Dr. Deng is a Professor in the Division of Immunotherapy, Department of Surgery, and the Member of the Immuno-Oncology Program at the Brown Cancer Center (BCC) and Alcohol Research Center, University of Louisville. Dr. Deng's research program investigates host–microbiota interactions in immune-mediated diseases, with a focus on sphingolipid signaling, mucosal immunology, and microbiome-host crosstalk in inflammatory bowel disease, colorectal cancer, and chronic liver diseases. His laboratory has made significant contributions to understanding how gut microbial factors regulate intestinal and hepatic immunity, particularly in alcohol-associated liver disease (ALD), metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). He has over 20 years of experience in tumor immunology and cancer immunotherapy and has been continuously funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Deng has authored many peer-reviewed publications in leading journals, including Cell Host & Microbe, Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, Blood, and Hepatology.