The research conducted in the Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity (MI&I) is driven by the global problems related to infectious diseases and the nature of the immune responses. This research is necessary in order to develop tools for new diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines. In the past, researchers and clinicians have been faced with the challenge of staying ahead of common epidemics and pandemics, such as influenza and tuberculosis. Recently, a new breed of antibiotic-resistant pathogens and emerging pathogens has public health officials concerned as well.
In addition to these diseases, infections that accompany various other conditions and medical procedures and the costs associated with these infections, are among the highest in America's hospitals. With expertise in host-microbe interactions, innate and adaptive immunity, and therapeutics, the Department of MI&I serves as the hub for faculty striving toward similar goals of studying various aspects of microbial infection and immunity. The department provides teaching and research opportunities in microbe-host interactions and immunology and educates the general public with regard to information and knowledge of infectious diseases. Academic medical centers are in a very unique position to better understand these pathogens and the host response, and translate discoveries into personalized treatments and vaccines that can mitigate or prevent the often times devastating effects of these diseases.
Highlighted Research
Dr. Hazem Ghoneim, an Assistant Professor of Microbial Infection and Immunity and member of the Pelotonia Institute for Immuno-Oncology, was awarded $3.2 million from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for his proposal to investigate molecular mechanisms underlying T-cell exhaustion and develop novel therapeutic approaches to epigenetically reprogram dysfunctional CD8 T cells for boosting T-cell immunotherapy against cancer or chronic infections.
Immune cells called CD8 T cells are critically important in the immune system’s efforts to eliminate cancer cells and viral infected cells from the body. CD8 T cells are also key players in immunotherapies called immune checkpoint blockade and CAR T-cell therapy. “When killer T cells become severely dysfunctional, they are unable to effectively clear cancer or viral infections, and they do not respond well to immunotherapies,” says Dr. Ghoneim. Dr. Ghoneim’s early work showed that dysfunctional T cells acquire heritable epigenetic programs that silence T cell-related stemness and function genes, restraining responses to immune checkpoint blockade (Ghoneim, et al. Cell 2017). “Epigenetic programming is a fundamental molecular mechanism that regulates cell's transcriptional output and controls cell's identity and fate commitment. It involves structural changes in the chromatin that modulate chromatin accessibility and gene expression programs without altering DNA sequences.” explains Dr. Ghoneim. Recently, Dr. Ghoneim and his team revealed a significant role of the microenvironmental signals in imprinting these epigenetic changes in dysfunctional T cells. In addition, they discovered a novel therapeutic approach to unlock T cell responses to cancer immunotherapy by rebalancing of TGFB1/BMP signals (Saadey, et al. Nature Immunol 2022).
This new research will determine how TGFβ1 signals orchestrate epigenetic programming in severely dysfunctional T cells; and whether modulating microenvironmental signals can epigenetically revive the memory potential in dysfunctional T cells. These studies will provide important insights into how epigenetic programs of exhaustion can be thwarted or reversed in CD8 T cells to enhance T cell immunotherapies against cancer or chronic viral infections.
For more information--Lab website
Discover our faculty’s incredible research:
Microbial Pathogenesis
Bordetella: Rajendar Deora, Purnima Dubey
Burkholderia: Amal Amer,
Lauren Bakaletz
Clostridia: Vijay Pancholi
Enterococci: Vijay Pancholi
Francisella: Murugesan Rajaram,
Susheela Tridandapani
Gut Microbiome: Brian Ahmer,
Michael Bailey
Haemophilus & Moraxella: Lauren Bakaletz
Legionella: Amal Amer
Listeria: Stephanie Seveau
Mycobacterium:
Luanne Hall-Stoodley, William Lafuse,
Murugesan Rajaram, Shu-Hua Wang
Neisseria & Kingella: Jennifer Edwards
Pseudomonas: Daniel Wozniak
Salmonella: Brian Ahmer
Staphylococcus: Miqdad Dhariwala, Steven Lower, Vijay Pancholi, Shu-Hua Wang
Streptococcus: Luanne Hall-Stoodley,
Vijay Pancholi
Leishmania: Brad McGwire, Fernanda Novais
Plasmodium: Munir Akkaya, Mark Drew
Ebola: Adriana Forero, Shan-Lu Liu, Jacob Yount
Enteroviruses: Adriana Forero
Herpes: Jian Zhu
HIV: Nick Funderburg, Shan-Lu Liu,
Namal Liyanage, Jian Zhu
Influenza: Adriana Forero, Emily Hemann, Shan-Lu Liu, Jacob Yount
RSV & adenovirus: Lauren Bakaletz
Zika: Shan-Lu Liu, Jacob Yount, Jian Zhu
Biofilms & Microbial Communities
Immunology and Host Response
Munir Akkaya
Lauren Bakaletz
Miqdad Dhariwala
Purnima Dubey
Hazem Ghoneim
Xue Han
Emily Hemann
Willa Hsueh
Stanley Huang
William Lafuse
Zihai Li
Chan-Wang Jerry Lio
Namal Liyanage
Amy Lovett-Racke
Gordon Meares
Fernanda Novais
Ken Oestreich
Gene Oltz
Benjamin Segal
Ruoning Wang
Andreas Wieland
Haitao Wen
Gang Xin
Rajendar Deora
Miqdad Dhariwala
Purnima Dubey
Jennifer Edwards
Hazem Ghoneim
Luanne Hall-Stoodley
Xue Han
Emily Hemann
Stanley Huang
Zihai Li
Chan-Wang Jerry Lio
Shan-Lu Liu
Gordon Meares
Bethany Mundy-Bosse
Fernanda Novais
Ken Oestreich
Gene Oltz
Vijay Pancholi
Murugesan Rajaram
Susheela Tridandapani
Andreas Wieland
Haitao Wen
Amal Amer
Michael Bailey
Lauren Bakaletz
Megan Ballinger
Miqdad Dhariwala
Purnima Dubey
Jennifer Edwards
Adriana Forero
Nick Funderburg
Xue Han
Emily Hemann
Stanley Huang
Nagaraj Kerur
William Lafuse
Zihai Li
Shan-Lu Liu
Namal Liyanage
Gordon Meares
Bethany Mundy-Bosse
Eugene Oltz
Vijay Pancholi
Murugesan Rajaram
Benjamin Segal
Susheela Tridandapani
Haitao Wen
Daniel Wozniak
Jacob Yount