The Leung Lab uses human diseased tissue as a natural perturbation system to uncover fundamental mechanisms of immunity, inflammation, and repair. We combine human genetics, deeply phenotyped clinical cohorts, longitudinal sampling, single-cell and spatial omics, and mechanistic experimentation to identify large-effect biological signals directly in human tissue. We use these signals to discover how immune cells acquire function, how granulomas self-organize, and how adult skin can be shifted from scarring toward regeneration.​​

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     We are building a lab for scientists who want to discover basic biology from human disease - uncovering mechanisms that textbooks haven't written yet - and translate those findings into new ways to diagnose, treat, and repair tissue.

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     Thomas Leung, MD, PhD, is the Herman Beerman Professor of Dermatology at the University of Pennsylvania. He received his MD and PhD through the UCLA–Caltech Medical Scientist Training Program, where he studied gene regulation in the laboratory of Nobel laureate David Baltimore, before completing dermatology residency and postdoctoral training at Stanford University. His laboratory draws on these experiences to use human disease as a discovery system for fundamental biology.