Eliseo F. Castillo, Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Department of Internal Medicine) and currently serves as the Director of Gastroenterology Research for the division. Dr. Castillo received his Ph.D. in Immunology from The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center under Dr. Kimberly Schluns investigating interleukin-15 trans-presentation by dendritic cells and intestinal epithelial cells to Natural Killer (NK) cells (Castillo et al. J. Immunol 2009), invariant NK T cells (Castillo et al. Blood 2010), and intestinal intraepithelial lymphocytes (Stonier et al. Blood 2008). He then did a postdoctoral fellowship at UNM HSC under Dr. Vojo Deretic investigating the function of the autophagy gene, Atg5, in macrophages to limit infection and inflammatory cytokine production (Castillo et al. PNAS 2012). In 2017, he started his lab as a CTSC KL2 Scholar in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology (Internal Medicine) to understand how intestinal macrophages interact with the intestinal epithelial barrier during inflammation and homeostasis (NIH UL1TR001449 and P20GM121176) using animal models and both human and murine organoids (in collaboration with Dr. Julie G. In). Additionally, the lab has become a front-runner in the field of understanding the effects of environmental particulates such as microplastics on gut health. We are examining how microplastics (NIH R01 ES032037) and heavy metals (NIH P42 ES025589) affect the microbiota, the intestinal epithelium, and intestinal macrophages. Lastly, we are also examining the function of the intestinal epithelium in diseases such as metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) and Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) (The American Cancer Society Institutional Research Grant).