Bailey, Michael

Bakaletz, Lauren

Boyaka, Prosper

Edwards, Jennifer

Freud, Aharon

Funderburg, Nicholas T.

Gowdy, Kymberly

Guerau-de-Arellano, Mireia

Hsueh, Willa

Keller, Brian

Kopp, Benjamin

Li, Zihai

Liu, Shan-Lu

Locke, Landon

Lower, Steven

McGwire, Bradford S.

Mundy, Bethany

Pancholi, Vijay

Segal, Benjamin

Stevenson, Kurt

Tridandapani, Susheela

Wang, Ruoning

Wang, Shu-Hua

Whitacre, Caroline

Yang, Yuhong

Zhu, Jian

Publications

Research Interests

Dr. Sabag-Daigle's primary research interest is the regulation of virulence and metabolic gene expression by pathogenic microbes. These investigations provide a mechanistic view of how microorganisms interact with each other and the host. This knowledge can ultimately inform our understanding of pathogenesis and enable selection of novel therapeutic drug targets. Her doctoral work provided an excellent foundation for a career in bacterial gene regulation through the study of transcriptional regulation of carbon and nitrogen pathways in archaeal and bacterial systems. This training afforded her the opportunity to develop a specialized technical and analytical skillset that has proven useful in the study of complex interspecies interactions. It has also allowed her to follow her personal interests by transitioning to the study of medically relevant pathogens. Working in the Ahmer lab provides an exciting platform on which to contribute formative research findings that have the potential to directly impact human lives. Her expertise in transcription regulation and carbon nitrogen metabolism lends itself nicely to the characterization of the fructose-asparagine (F-Asn) utilization pathway (fra) in Salmonella, and is also relevant in the lab's studies with the SdiA regulons of Salmonella, E. coli, and Enterobacter.

Dr. Sabag-Daigle's current focus in the Ahmer lab is elucidation and continued characterization of the fra pathway and its potential for further development as a therapeutic target. The lab is interested in the development of small molecule inhibitors of the fra operon with the expectation that inhibition of this pathway will be detrimental to the growth of Salmonella in the intestine. This is significant because very few bacteria have the genetic potential to utilize F-Asn, which makes a fra inhibitor a potentially Salmonella-specific antimicrobial.

Research Interests

Research Interests

Publications

Research Interests

Dr. Noushin Saljoughian’s primary research interest is the understanding of the pathophysiology of leishmaniasis and developing effective vaccines for prevention of this serious parasitic disease. Her doctoral work developed a number of successful vaccine candidates to prevent leishmaniasis, as well as elucidated the role of crucial immune system processes during the course of the disease. Dr. Saljoughian has an extensive background in multiple biological disciplines including molecular biology, immunology and vaccine development.

Dr. Saljoughian's research activities in the Dr. Rajaram lab focus on role of immune cells in cardiac dysfunction during gram negative bacterial infection with specific interest in aging. Recently, it has been discovered in Dr. Rajaram’s lab that gram negative bacterial infection causes cardiac dysfunction which was facilitated by increased infiltration of immune cells, increased inflammation, fibrosis and apoptosis. Thus, understanding the cellular components involved in the cardiac inflammation and their impact on myocyte and fibroblast function would assist in the prevention of cardiac dysfunction in pneumonia patients. Dr. Saljoughian's interest is to determine the function of infiltrated macrophages in cardiac tissue damage and how these cells alter the steady-state heart function.

Research Interests

Although, remarkable achievements in anti-retroviral treatment, HIV-1 infection is continuing to grow and, no concrete treatment yet available to completely eradicate the virus from the infected people. The rate of progression of HIV disease may be substantially different among HIV-infected individuals. Following infection of the host with any virus, the delicate balance between virus replication and the immune response to the virus determines both the outcome of the infection, i.e. the persistence versus elimination of the virus, and the different rates of progression. The overarching goal of the Dr. Liyanage’s lab is to understand the immune pathobiology of HIV infection and development of preventive strategies and therapeutics. Their recent studies have shown the critical role of mucosal innate lymphoid cells and natural killer cells in the prevention of SIV/HIV infections in HIV vaccine studies.

Dr. Shukla’s research aims to

1. Understand mechanisms use by innate lymphoid cells and natural killer cells to prevent SIV/HIV infection.
2. Explore innate and adaptive immune cells in tonsils and mucosal tissues and use of oral adjuvant to enhance protection from HIV infection.
3. Understand the mechanism of cross-reactive memory B cell during HIV/SIV infection.

His current works have shown the expression of novel innate cell subset in non-human primate and human tissues.

Research Interests

Cell-autonomous energy metabolism and immune signaling are two co-evolutionized systems. Over the past several decades many crucial cross-regulations between these two networks have been characterized either under naive condition or during immune activation in response to invading. On the one hand, in response to pathogen infection or tissue damage, activation of immune signaling immediately alerts metabolic system to repro- gram toward enhanced catabolic activity, which further conveys danger signals to other systems to initiate a series of restorative stress responses. On the other hand, elevated catabolic activity is required to meet the increased demand of biomolecules and energy for effective immune functions such as immune cell migration, phagocytosis, and cytokine production. Therefore, The possibility of modulating immune cell function through metabolic regulation represents a new approach for combatting pathogen- and tissue damage-induced inflammatory diseases.

Dr. Li’s current research focus in the Wen lab is on investigating the role of individual metabolism pathways in immune activation by various pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs).