James M. Cherry, Ph.D.

The Research Technologies Branch (RTB) provides cutting edge expertise and research technologies primarily in support of NIAID intramural investigators. Our Lab was established to provide researchers access to leading-edge technologies and specialized expertise through a tightly integrated, highly effective approach to study complex biological problems.  During the past 30 years, the advent of the biotechnology industry and the development of new scientific disciplines have resulted in an explosion of new technologies. In addition, advances in optics, lasers, and computational biology have revolutionized well-established disciplines such as microscopy (light and electron), flow cytometry, genomic and proteomics. These technologies require very expensive instrumentation platform integration and more importantly highly trained specialized scientists to adapt these new technologies to the research needs of the Institute’s diverse research agenda. The Branch implements state of the art research technologies and project-specific applications for the NIAID intramural research program. This is accomplished through collaboration with current researchers along with a network of facilities located in Bethesda, Rockville and Frederick, Maryland, as well as Hamilton, Montana. Scientists in the RTB make significant contributions to collaborative research projects with NIAID researchers and their extramural collaborators. Equally important is their dedication technology; a substantial portion of their efforts focuses on technology development, resulting in advances methods and approaches designed.

The Center for Human Immunology (CHI) mission is to achieve an integrated and predictive understanding of human immunity and immune-microbiome behavior and function in health and disease. This can be accomplished by large scale human studies, scientific expertise and a strong influx of technology applications that is not readily available in a single laboratory.