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The Hind research group is broadly interested in using engineered devices and platforms to investigate fundamental questions in innate immunity, with a focus on innate immune dysregulation in infection and disease. The innate immune response is a complex process that involves the coordinated efforts of numerous cell types and occurs throughout the body in tissues with varying compositions and properties. In order to better understand both the chemical and biophysical mechanisms that drive the human immune response, we must study cellular behavior in physiologically relevant contexts. Our group designs engineered platforms inspired by in vivo biology that recapitulate many of the important cell-cell interactions and structural components of the inflamed microenvironment. We then use these models to study how multicellular interactions, soluble factors, and the physical environment influence innate immune cell function in healthy tissues and in disease. This multidisciplinary research is carried out using principles and techniques from engineering, immunology, molecular biology, and microscopy.