Ragon Institute

Sokol Lab

Neuroimmunology, allergy, innate immunity, itch

Lab Overview

The Sokol Lab investigates how the nervous and immune systems cooperate to control barrier tissue inflammation. Our focus is allergic disease — tracing neuroimmune interactions from first allergen encounter to chronic sensitization.
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At the center of our work is a fundamental reframing: sensory neurons at barrier tissues are not passive bystanders in allergic disease, but active regulators that both initiate and shape immune responses. These neurons directly sense allergen protease activity and signal to immune cells to trigger type 2 inflammation. The immune system, in turn, tunes neuronal sensitivity — creating feedback circuits that determine whether allergen exposure leads to lasting sensitization. Neurons themselves can also be reprogrammed by allergen exposure through metabolic changes that lower the threshold for future immune activation, a form or neuroimmune “training” that may explain why allergic disease tends to worsen with time.
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To dissect these pathways, we combine mouse genetics, CRISPR-based functional genomics in primary sensory neurons, single-cell approaches, and translational studies in human tissue. Our goal is to define the molecular logic of neuroimmune communication, and to identify new strategies to prevent and treat allergic disease, chronic itch, and inflammatory disorders.

Caroline Sokol, MD, PhD

Affiliation

  • Member, Ragon Institute of Mass General Brigham, MIT, and Harvard
  • Core Member, Gene Lay Institute of Immunology and Inflammation
  • Assistant Professor, Harvard Medical School
  • Assistant Physician, Division of Allergy and Clinical Immunology, MGB

About

Dr. Sokol received her MD and PhD from Yale University School of Medicine, where she performed her doctoral research in the laboratory of Dr. Ruslan Medzhitov. There she conducted foundational studies showing that allergens are detected by the immune system through their protease activity — a form of functional recognition distinct from classical innate immune signals. She completed clinical training in Internal Medicine and Allergy & Immunology at Massachusetts General Hospital, followed by a research fellowship with Dr. Andrew Luster, where she identified novel chemokine pathways controlling dendritic cell migration in response to allergens. Dr. Sokol joined the MGH faculty in 2018, where she shifted her research focus to the role of the nervous system in allergic immunity, establishing sensory neurons as upstream regulators of the allergic immune response. She joined the Ragon Institute in 2026.

Recognition & Honors

  • Martin Prize for Fundamental Research, MGH (2025)
  • Chair, Gordon Research Conference on Food Allergy (2026)
  • Howard Goodman Fellowship, MGH (2021)
  • ASI Social Impact Award, Australian and New Zealand Society for Immunology (2021)
  • Broad Institute Next Generation Scholar (2020)
  • Fellow, American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology (FAAAAI) (2019)

Related Research Foci

  • Fundamental Immunology
  • Mucosal Immunology
  • Environmental Drivers of Health

Related Areas of Study

  • Allergy
  • Neuroimmune
  • Autoimmune

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Latest From The Lab

Selected Publications

A gd T cell–IL-3 axis controls allergic responses through sensory neurons

Flayer CH, Kernin IJ, Matatia PR, Zeng X, Yarmolinsky DA, Han C, Naik PR, Buttaci DR, Aderhold PA, Camire RB, Zhu X, Tirard AJ, McGuire JT, Smith NP, McKimmie CS, McAlpine CS, Swirski FK, Woolf CJ, Villani AC, Sokol CL.

Nature. 2024; 634:440–446.

PMID: 39232162

Identifying microbial protease allergens through protein language model-guided homology

Thurimella K, Wu E, Li C, Graham DB, Owens RM, Plichta DR*, Sokol CL*, Xavier RJ*, Bacallado S*.

Cell Systems. 2026; 17:101510.

PMID: 41722567

Substance P Release by Sensory Neurons Triggers Dendritic Cell Migration and Initiates the Type-2 Immune Response to Allergens

Perner C, Flayer CH, Zhu X, Aderhold PA, Dewan ZNA, Voisin T, Camire RB, Chow OA, Chiu IM, Sokol CL.

Immunity. 2020; 53(5):1063–1077

PMID: 33098765

The Chemokine Receptor CCR8 Promotes the Migration of Dendritic Cells into the Lymph Node Parenchyma to Initiate the Allergic Immune Response

Sokol CL, Camire RB, Jones MC, Luster AD.

Immunity. 2018; 49(3):449–463

PMID: 30170811

A mechanism for the initiation of allergen-induced T helper type 2 responses

Sokol CL, Barton GM, Farr AG, Medzhitov R.

Nature Immunology. 2008; 9(3):310–318.

PMID: 18300366
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Lab Members

Xueping Zhu, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Cai Han, PhD

Postdoctoral Fellow

Peri Matatia

Harvard Immunology Graduate Student (PhD Candidate)

Sarah Zaghouani

Harvard BBS Graduate Student (PhD Candidate)

Dean Buttaci

Research Technician

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