Professor Cynthia Sears

Cynthia is Professor of Medicine, Oncology and Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the Bloomberg School of Public Health, the Microbiome Program Leader of the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute of Cancer Immunotherapy, the Director of the Germfree Murine Core and Co-Director of the Microbiome Forum at Johns Hopkins.

Through translational and bench research stemming from her training as an infectious diseases specialist, she investigates how enteric bacteria (particularly enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF), Fusobacterium spp, pks+ Escherichia coli) and the microbiome promote colon carcinogenesis and modulate cancer immunotherapy responses. Using human tissues and mouse models combined with microbiology, bioinformatics and immunologic methods, the Sears laboratory has identified the IL-17 and myeloid mechanisms of ETBF colon carcinogenesis and the high prevalence and carcinogenicity of mucus-invasive biofilms in colon cancer.