An expert in immunobiology, Pearce investigates the role of cellular metabolism in immune cell function and fate during infection and cancer in order to identify ways to inhibit or promote metabolic pathways to manipulate immune responses. Pearce’s long-term goal for this work is modulating metabolic processes for therapy.

Pearce’s laboratory focuses on two overlapping research areas. First, Pearce seeks to understand how immune cells are able to make changes to their metabolism—a process called metabolic reprogramming—and why different types of metabolism are required for different activation states in immune cells. Second, Pearce studies type 2 immune responses, which are induced by certain types of infection, including helminth parasites or allergy and asthma, and can be implicated in wound healing and tumor progression. In particular, he examines how type 2 immunity is initiated and maintained, as well as the consequences of this type of immune response.

Pearce joined Johns Hopkins University as a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor in 2020 from the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics.