Current Lab Members:
 
Graduate Students: Kyle Reid (PhD Student); Sinthuja Jegatheeswaran, MSc (PhD Student);  Martin Mak (PhD Student); Sia Mashhouri (PhD Student); Sebastian Grocott (PhD Student)

Staff: Humaira Murshed
 

Dr. Sarah Crome is a Senior Scientist within Terry Fox Laboratories in the Basic and Translational Research Department at BC Cancer, where her laboratory investigates how human innate lymphoid cells (ILCs) and Natural Killer (NK) cells regulate immune tolerance and immunity. Her research integrates patient-based discovery with single-cell and spatial transcriptomics, advanced immunological platforms, human tissue models, and translational in vivo systems to define context-dependent immune states that govern immune homeostasis and aberrant immune responses in cancer, transplantation, and immune-mediated disease.

Dr. Crome’s program focuses on the mechanisms controlling ILC and NK cell differentiation, function, and tissue adaptation, and on translating these pathways into next-generation immunotherapies. Her team is advancing immune-engineered and cell-based therapies harnessing regulatory and cytotoxic ILC and NK cell populations, while also mapping tissue-resident immune programs that drive tumour immune evasion, graft rejection, and immune-mediated pathology or, conversely, promote immune tolerance and tissue protection. These efforts span discovery, mechanism, and therapeutic development in close partnership with clinical teams.

Members

Faculty/Leaders

Staff

Selected Publications

Cell therapy with human interleukin 10-producing ILC2s enhances islet function and inhibits allograft rejection.

American journal of transplantation : official journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons, 2025
Colpitts, Sarah J, Jegatheeswaran, Sinthuja, Oakie, Amanda, Mashhouri, Siavash, Sachewsky, Nadia, Murshed, Humaira, Mathews, Jessica A, Reid, Kyle T, Misra, Paraish S, Fung, Vivian C W, Reichman, Trevor W, Nostro, M Cristina, Verchere, C Bruce, Levings, Megan K, Crome, Sarah Q
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Endothelial dysfunction drives atherosclerotic plaque macrophage-dependent abdominal aortic aneurysm formation.

Nature immunology, 2025
Thayaparan, Danya, Emoto, Takuo, Khan, Aniqa B, Besla, Rickvinder, Hamidzada, Homaira, El-Maklizi, Mahmoud, Sivasubramaniyam, Tharini, Vohra, Shabana, Hagerman, Ash, Nejat, Sara, Needham-Robbins, Charlotte E, Wang, Tao, Lindquist, Moritz, Botts, Steven R, Schroer, Stephanie A, Taniguchi, Masayuki, Inoue, Taishi, Yamanaka, Katsuhiro, Cui, Haotian, Al-Chami, Edouard, Zhang, Hangjun, Althagafi, Marwan G, Michalski, Aja, McGrath, Joshua J C, Cass, Steven P, Luong, David, Suzuki, Yuya, Li, Angela, Abow, Amina, Heo, Rachel, Pacheco, Shaun, Chen, Emily, Chiu, Felix, Byrne, John, Furuyashiki, Tomoyuki, Husain, Mansoor, Libby, Peter, Okada, Kenji, Howe, Kathryn L, Heximer, Scott P, Yamashita, Tomoya, Wang, Bo, Rubin, Barry B, Cybulsky, Myron I, Roy, Joy, Williams, Jesse W, Crome, Sarah Q, Epelman, Slava, Hirata, Ken-Ichi, Stampfli, Martin R, Robbins, Clinton S
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CD103+CD56+ ILCs Are Associated with an Altered CD8+ T-cell Profile within the Tumor Microenvironment.

Cancer immunology research, 2025
Chung, Douglas C, Shakfa, Noor, Vakharia, Jehan, Warner, Kathrin, Jacquelot, Nicolas, Sayad, Azin, Han, SeongJun, Ghaedi, Maryam, Garcia-Batres, Carlos R, Sotty, Jules, Azarmina, Arvin, Nowlan, Ferris, Chen, Edward L Y, Zon, Michael, Elford, Alisha R, Wang, Ben X, Nguyen, Linh T, Mrkonjic, Miralem, Clarke, Blaise A, Bernardini, Marcus Q, Haibe-Kains, Benjamin, Ferguson, Sarah E, Crome, Sarah Q, Jackson, Hartland W, Ohashi, Pamela S
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Single-cell profiling of healthy human kidney reveals features of sex-based transcriptional programs and tissue-specific immunity.

Nature communications, 2022
McEvoy, Caitriona M, Murphy, Julia M, Zhang, Lin, Clotet-Freixas, Sergi, Mathews, Jessica A, An, James, Karimzadeh, Mehran, Pouyabahar, Delaram, Su, Shenghui, Zaslaver, Olga, Röst, Hannes, Arambewela, Rangi, Liu, Lewis Y, Zhang, Sally, Lawson, Keith A, Finelli, Antonio, Wang, Bo, MacParland, Sonya A, Bader, Gary D, Konvalinka, Ana, Crome, Sarah Q
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Macrophage migration inhibitory factor drives pathology in a mouse model of spondyloarthritis and is associated with human disease.

Science translational medicine, 2021
Nakamura, Akihiro, Zeng, Fanxing, Nakamura, Sayaka, Reid, Kyle T, Gracey, Eric, Lim, Melissa, Leng, Lin, Jo, Sungsin, Park, Ye-Soo, Kusuda, Masaki, Machhar, Rohan, Boroojeni, Shaghayegh F, Wu, Brian, Rossomacha, Evgeny, Kim, Tae-Hwan, Ciccia, Francesco, Rockel, Jason S, Kapoor, Mohit, Inman, Robert D, Jurisica, Igor, Crome, Sarah Q, Bucala, Richard, Haroon, Nigil
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A distinct innate lymphoid cell population regulates tumor-associated T cells.

Nature medicine, 2017
Crome, Sarah Q, Nguyen, Linh T, Lopez-Verges, Sandra, Yang, S Y Cindy, Martin, Bernard, Yam, Jennifer Y, Johnson, Dylan J, Nie, Jessica, Pniak, Michael, Yen, Pei Hua, Milea, Anca, Sowamber, Ramlogan, Katz, Sarah Rachel, Bernardini, Marcus Q, Clarke, Blaise A, Shaw, Patricia A, Lang, Philipp A, Berman, Hal K, Pugh, Trevor J, Lanier, Lewis L, Ohashi, Pamela S
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