OUR TEAM

The Tal Research Group is a collaborative team of interdisciplinary biomedical scientists studying infection-associated complex chronic illnesses and immune responses to infection.

Our immunoengineering lab brings together a diverse team of talented researchers with backgrounds and expertise including immunology, microbiology, bioengineering, murine research, translational health policy, patient experiences, bioethics, environmental health, and disease pathophysiology.

The Tal Research Group

Michal “Mikki” Caspi Tal, PhD

Principal Scientist, MIT Department of Biological Engineering

Associate Scientific Director, MIT Center for Gynepathology Research

Michal Caspi Tal, PhD, is an immunoengineer, and a Principal Scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Dr. Tal leads the Tal Research Group within the department of Biological Engineering and also serves as the associate scientific director of the Center for Gynepathology Research. Michal is working to identify the connections between infections and chronic diseases. Her research is focused on creating predictive diagnostics, and generating actionable information providers can use to connect with and care for patients to improve diagnosis and treatments for invisible chronic diseases. From tick-borne disease to COVID, there are many similarities across chronic inflammatory diseases and important sex differences in these responses, which are the focus of the Tal group. Michal received her PhD at Yale University in Immunobiology under the mentorship of Dr. Akiko Iwasaki researching how immune responses to viruses are impacted by processes such as aging. Dr Tal then did her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Irving Weissman at Stanford where she later became an instructor at the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University leading the infectious disease team and studying immumodulatory mechanisms which impact immune clearance of infectious disease, with a focus on Lyme disease. Michal has been awarded NIH NIAID F31 and F32 pre and postdoctoral fellowships, as well as the Emerging Leader Award from Bay Area Lyme Foundation.