Sonya MacParland, PhD

My central research interest is translating the immune biology of the liver into clinical applications. One of the most surprising aspects of the liver is how little we understand about the cells that make up this organ and how these cells work in concert to perform critical metabolic and immunological functions. The liver is a unique immunological organ, which is home to cells of the innate and adaptive immune system. Immune dysregulation in the liver is a factor in many disease processes including viral hepatitis, autoimmune hepatitis, liver cancer, and inflammatory liver damage leading to fibrosis. In my research group, we are investigating how liver immune dysregulation drives liver diseases, including chronic viral infection and its consequence, HCC, and we will examine how the liver immune environment can be therapeutically manipulated using nanoparticles to slow or reverse ongoing damage and to promote liver regeneration.

For a list of Dr. MacParland's publications, please visit PubMed or Scopus.


Associate Professor, Departments of Laboratory Medicine and Pathobiology (LMP) and Immunology, University of Toronto
Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Liver Immunology