Grayson Lab
The Grayson Lab studies how allergic diseases, like food allergy and asthma, develop, how respiratory viral infections can drive that development and how allergic disease affects the antiviral immune response in the lung.
Allergic diseases are increasing worldwide, but it is not known why they are increasing. Asthma is a major chronic disease in children leading to significant healthcare costs and school absences. Why children develop asthma is not known, although having a severe respiratory viral infection early in life greatly increases a child’s risk of developing asthma.
The Grayson Lab hopes to be able to understand the mechanisms that underlie the development of asthma and allergies to develop treatments and primary prevention strategies. Using animal models, as well as human samples, its team uses a variety of scientific techniques, including flow cytometry, tissue culture, qPCR and RNAseq.
Lab Staff
Principal Investigator
Mitchell.Grayson@NationwideChildrens.org
Mitchell Grayson, MD, graduated with a bachelor of arts from Knox College in Galesburg, IL before attending the University of Chicago, Pritzker School of Medicine, from which he received his medical degree in 1993. After completing an internal medicine residency at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, he undertook his allergy/immunology fellowship at Johns Hopkins University. Dr. Grayson was on the faculty at Washington University School of Medicine and the Medical College of Wisconsin before joining Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University in 2016 as professor of pediatrics and chief of the Division of Allergy and Immunology. He is the Grant Morrow, III, MD endowed chair in pediatric research.
Dr. Grayson oversees a translational research laboratory studying the role viral infections play in the development of allergic disease, and how allergic disease impacts the antiviral immune response. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed articles, and has trained over 20 graduate, post-doctoral or clinical research fellows. He is a board-certified diplomate of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, and an active fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, and the American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Dr. Grayson is the treasurer and a director for the American Board of Allergy and Immunology, chair of the Medical Scientific Council and on the board of directors of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America, and a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of the American Lung Association. Dr. Grayson has served on the board of directors of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology. Dr. Grayson has served on numerous grant review study sections for the National Institutes of Health and several editorial boards for allergy and immunology journals. Currently, Dr. Grayson is the editor-in-chief of the Annals of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology. Dr. Grayson is an elected member of the Collegium Internationale Allergologicum, the allergy research honor society, as well as the American Society for Clinical Investigation, the physician-scientist honor society.
Dr. Grayson’s clinical interests are primarily asthma, allergic rhinitis, food allergy and anaphylaxis.
Syed-Rehan A. Hussain, PhD
Research Scientist
Rehan.Hussain@NationwideChildrens.org
In the Grayson Lab, Rehan works with the team to study the immunological aspects of respiratory viral infections. His duties include contributing to research conceptualization and coordinating with colleagues for data curation and analyses.
Rehan graduated from The Ohio State University with a doctorate degree in molecular, cellular and development biology and from University of the Punjab, Pakistan, with a master’s degree in pharmacy. Before joining Dr. Grayson’s lab in 2017, Rehan worked in the areas of gene therapy for myotonic dystrophy and gene editing of mitochondrial DNA, experimental therapeutics for chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) and studying microRNA in wound repair and peripheral neuropathic pain in animal models.
Skye Bochter, PhD
Research Associate
Skye.Bochter@NationwideChildrens.org
Skye joined the Grayson Lab in 2024. He received his bachelor's degree in molecular genetics from The Ohio State University. Subsequently, he earned his doctorate in molecular genetics at The Ohio State University in the MolGen Graduate Program under Dr. Susan E. Cole. His doctoral work was in vertebrate embryonic development and focused on understanding post-translational regulation of the Notch signaling pathway and its role in coordinating oscillatory gene expression during axial skeletal development.
Michelle Rohlfing
Research Associate
Michelle.Rohlfing@NationwideChildrens.org
Michelle perform experimental assays including ELISAs, flexiVent and morphology. Her favorite assay to perform is flow cytometry. She also supports lab supply inventory/ordering, lab safety and mouse colony maintenance.
