Misson Statement
Dr. Peter J. Gaskill
Our research explores the immunopharmacology of neurotransmitters, addictive drugs and neuropsychiatric therapeutics in neurological and inflammatory disease. Currently, our projects focus on the impact of dopamine on inflammasome activity, the role of addictive substances (cocaine, benzodiazepines) on HIV replication and associated inflammation in the brain, the impact of HIV / HBV co-infection and stimulants on HIV infection in liver and lung macrophages, and the development of iPSC models of microglia, macrophages, human cortical and mid-brain organoids to facilitate our understanding and research into neuroHIV and other neurodegenerative diseases. A common thread throughout these projects is a focus on myeloid cells, a central driver of innate inflammation as well as a primary target for HIV infection in many organ systems. We use primary human macrophages from blood and tissues as well as iPSC-derived macrophages and microglia, and many of our experiments use high-content imaging to perform unbiased, high-throughput analysis of large, heterogenous cell populations and molecular targets in response to many distinct stimuli. Combining these high content analyses with molecular and cell biology techniques enables us to focus specifically on the molecular mechanisms regulating the involvement of myeloid cells in disease processes.
Gaskill Lab News
February 2026
Congratulations to Yash Agarwal, who received his F30 from the NIDA to study "Dopamine D1-like receptor stimulation promotes HIV neuroimmune pathogenesis in iPSC-derived human cortical assembloids"!!!
Congratulations to Oluwatofunmi Oteju, who just got her F31 from NIDA for her project on "Uncovering Mechanisms Contributing to Enhanced NeuroHIV with Cocaine Use"!!!!
January 2026
The Qiang and Gaskill labs received a new WW Smith Foundation award "Next-generation human brain organoids uncover mechanisms and therapeutic targets for glutamate dysregulation and vascular injury in HIV-associated neurodegeneration"
Congratulations to our Alumni Alexis Brantly and Teresa Lupone for having their manuscript "High-throughput High Content Quantification of HIV-1 Viral Infectious Output" accepted for publication at PLOS One!!!
December 2025
Tofunmi Oteju and Marzieh Daniali both received honorable mention for the Ben Weiss Award from the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology!!
Marzieh Daniali received the Mary Shaw travel award from the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology and the Dean's travel Award from Drexel University College of Medicine!!
November 2025
Congratulations to Amanda Modica, for receiving 1st place in the Junior Graduate Student Poster Competition, and to Tofunmi Oteju, for receiving 3rd place in the Senior Graduate Student Poster Competition, at Discovery Day in 2025!
October 2025
Our collaboration with Dr. Alex Starr and the Jordan-Scuitto Lab on the impact of cannabinoid receptors on HIV replication in microglia was published in the Journal of Neuroimmune Pharmacology
September 2025
Excited to announce the publication of our review on the The Role of Liver Macrophages in Viral Liver Pathogenesis, able led by Alexis Brantly, was published in the Journal of Leukocyte Biology
August 2025
Alexis Brantly did fantastic job today defending her thesis focused on "Establishing a model of HIV infection in macrophages to assess HIV / HBV co-infection driven liver disease". Keep an eye here for great data coming out soon about HIV / HBV coinfection.
The Gaskill lab received our notice of award for our R33, funding our research Defining molecular mechanisms by which stimulant evoked dopamine drives inflammation and neuronal dysfunction in neuroHIV !!!