Science at the intersection of human immunology, metabolism, and critical illness.
About Us
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We study how environmental and metabolic stress shapes human immune function, with a particular interest in critical illness syndromes such as sepsis and ARDS. Critical illness exposes immune cells to profound and rapidly changing physiologic conditions, providing both an important clinical problem and a unique setting in which to study human immunity. We combine studies of patients with mechanistic experiments in primary human cells to understand how these conditions alter immune cell state, metabolism, and function. The goal is to understand not only how immunity changes during severe illness, but also what these settings can teach us about fundamental human immune biology.
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Matthew Stier, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor at Vanderbilt with training spanning immunology, immunometabolism, and pulmonary and critical care medicine. He studied microbiology at the University of Michigan and completed his MD/PhD at Vanderbilt, where his doctoral work with Stokes Peebles, MD focused on innate lymphoid cell biology. He remained at Vanderbilt for internal medicine residency and pulmonary and critical care fellowship, while pursuing postdoctoral research with Jeffrey Rathmell, PhD on T cell metabolism in human critical illness. He founded the Stier Lab in 2025 to investigate human immune biology through both mechanistic experimentation and the study of patients with critical illness.
The Stier Lab includes trainees and research staff with a range of scientific backgrounds and interests. We foster a collaborative, supportive environment with a strong emphasis on education, mentorship, and growing independence.
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We are currently recruiting, with particular interest in graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, but welcome strong candidates at any stage. Applicants may come from immunology, cell biology, computational biology, engineering, pathology, physiology, metabolism, or related fields.
If you are interested in joining the lab, please send a brief note describing your background and scientific interests along with a current CV. We also welcome inquiries about potential collaborations, our research, or other aspects of the lab’s work.