Melody Ann Swartz

Swartz seeks to understand and manipulate lymphatic growth and function as it relates to cancer and immunity. Her lab uses interdisciplinary approaches to describe systems-level behaviors, both for fundamental insight and novel translational strategies. Current research focuses include the role of tumor-associated lymphatics in modulating anti-tumor immunity, the role of lymphatic drainage in maintaining peripheral tolerance, therapeutic lymphangiogenesis for immunotherapy, targeting the lymphatics with synthetic nanoparticle vaccines, and the role of interstitial flow in regulating tissue homeostasis. Her work has won her recognition in the fields of engineering and physiology. MacArthur Fellow (2012).