Dr. Timothy Borgogna Joins the WHIT Faculty as of September 2025

The TR Borgogna Lab explores the reciprocal communication between host and pathogens that promote tolerance or infection. His work has focused on how factors such as influenza infection and neutrophil activation contribute to Staphylococcus aureus pathogenesis. Current studies focus on how changes in the lung environment associated with aging shape susceptibility to infection.

 The lungs serve two primary purposes: 1) to deliver oxygen and remove carbon dioxide, and 2) to provide defense against inhaled pathogens, chemicals, and particulates. While the role in oxygen exchange is critical, maintaining this function is only possible through sustained and effective defense against potential pathogens. Airborne microorganisms constantly barrage the respiratory system, and opportunistic pathogens residing in the nares are frequently trafficked from the oropharynx into the lungs. Despite a constant onslaught, severe lower respiratory infections in immunocompetent individuals are relatively infrequent. As individuals age, the incidence and severity of respiratory infections increase. The decline in respiratory resilience is primarily attributed to immunosenescence – the age-related decline in immune function. In the TRB Lab, we are interested in specific changes in the senescent lung environment that increase susceptibility to bacterial infections and pneumonia.

In ongoing projects, Timothy is investigating how the aging lung environment contributes to influenza and bacterial coinfection. Infection with influenza viruses often causes mild symptoms and is resolved by the host’s immune response within two weeks of symptom onset. Annual mortality rates from influenza infection alone are relatively low; however, influenza infection drastically increases host susceptibility to secondary bacterial pneumonia. Here, mortality rates can be >10x higher than influenza alone and are a leading cause of death in the United States. This trend is intensified in older adults wherein populations aged >55, >65, >75, and >85 exhibit respective mortality rates >2.5x, >5.6x, >16.1x, and 59.5x higher than those <55 years of age. The TRB Lab aims to understand how changes in the influenza-infected lung environment increase susceptibility to secondary bacterial infection and to identify how these changes are exacerbated with age.