Hao Wu, PhD, leads the Laboratory of Structural Immunology at the Boston Children's Hospital. In his research, Dr. Wu focuses on studying how components of the immune system communicate. Specifically, he studies tumor necrosis factor, a protein produced by immune cells, which can kill other cells. Another line of his work explores toll-like receptor (TLR)/interleukin-1 receptor (IL-1R) superfamily, a group of proteins that work together to produce an effect similar to that of the tumor necrosis factor. Dr. Wu's laboratory recently expanded its research focus to include inflammasomes, protein assemblies that can rapidly kill infected cells in response to infections and other dangerous events.