Dr. Baranzini’s research focuses on mechanisms underlying susceptibility to common diseases, prediction of therapeutic response, and innovative approaches to drug discovery. Through a combination of wet lab (genetic and immunological approaches) and computational methods, the Baranzini lab investigates combinations of DNA variants that confer susceptibility to diseases in the context of the biological pathways, gene networks, and regulatory influences. In particular, efforts to integrate multiple data domains to understand susceptibility and phenotype heterogeneity (including response to therapeutic drugs) in multiple sclerosis (MS) are underway. In addition, research about the influence of the microbiome in MS susceptibility and expressivity is ongoing.