Mucosal and Vaccine Research Colorado (MAVRC) Program

Clinical pharmacology, Antiviral medications, HIV, Intracellular pharmacology of nucleoside analogs for HIV and pharmacogenetics of antiretroviral agents.

CNS Infections, West Nile Virus, Encephalitis

Immunotherapy and Th17, Vaccines

ABSL-3 facilities. Expertise for animal testing of vaccines against diverse pathogens, most of which are Select Agents; Influenza; Animal models

Design and implementation of randomized clinical trials to improve the treatment of tuberculosis and HIV infection; International Health

HIV treatment HHV-8; International Health; Africa

Immunopathogenesis of HIV infection; Sex-based differences in HIV, infection; Women's health

OB/GYN

Pre-clinical identification of autoimmune disease. Multi-centered trials; Relationship between genetics, environmental exposures, and the development of rheumatoid arthritis-related autoimmune disease. Building models for the prediction of future development of autoimmune disease.

How pathogenic bacteria evade and manipulate mammalian immune systems. Molecular mechanisms of Typhoid fever; Immunology; Microbiology.

Cytokines; Immunology; Autoimmune disease

Vaccine adjuvants; pulmonary immunity; enteric immunity; bacterial pathogens (Burkholderia, Francisella, Yersinia); Respiratory Immunology

Interactions between commensal microorganisms, pathogens, and the mucosal immune system in human health and disease; Microbiome; Enteric disease; Inflammatory bowel disease; HIV.

Lung Mucosal Immunity; Asthma COOPD; Respiratory Immunology

Structure and assembly of small DNA viruses, New human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccines

Regulation of bacterial gene expression. Molecular biology of host-bacterial pathogen interactions; Streptococcus pneumoniae-pathogenic mechanisms and new approaches to vaccine development. Respiratory Immunology and Microbiology; Vaccines.

Pediatric infectious disease; vaccines; Kawasaki's disease

Cancer vaccines; immune suppression; cell stress; bexosome biology; Cancer vaccines

Immunology; Cancer; Tumor biology, Autoimmunity, Flow cytometry

Cell Biology of Inflammation, Recognition and removal of apoptotic cells, Innate Immunity; Respiratory Immunology

The roles of complement receptors and membrane regulatory proteins in the immune response with a special emphasis on B cells and autoimmunity. The role of autoantibodies and the evolution of autoimmunity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the pre-symptomatic autoantibody-positive period through the onset of clinically active disease.

Immunology, Mycobacteria Microbiology, including Tuberculosis (TB)

Vaccine - preventable disease; HIV; Streptococcus pneumoniae; Influenza; Mucosal Immunology; Respiratory Immunology.

Vaccinology, Herpesvirus latency, Immune response to herpesvirus; Immunosenescence.

Pulmonary Disease Research. Biology of alveolar type II epithelial cells. Lipogenesis in alveolar type II cells. Role of alveolar epithelium in environmental lung disease. Role of alveolar epithelium in pulmonary fibrosis. Response of alveolar epithelial cells to viral infections.

Mechanisms of lipid droplet synthesis Lipid droplets (LDs); Reproductive and Women's health

Interation of Hepatitis C (HCV) with adaptive immune cells and antigen-presenting cells from the liver including Kupffer cells (liver macrophages), T cells and dendritic cells. I collaborate with Drs Rosen, and Colgan within the department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology.

The regulation of the development of the normal mammary gland.

Ribozyme biochemistry; molecular ecology of extreme ecosystems; Microbiome

Arboviral diasease; West Nile Virus; Dengue; Yellow Fever; Vaccine development; International Health

Cellular, molecular and biochemical approaches to understand the role that mononuclear phagocytes play in the host response to intracellular pathogenic microorganisms. We are currently studying two aspects of the innate immune responses of mononuclear phagocytes to the intracellular enteric bacteria Salmonella typhimurium. I plan to extend our expertise in macrophage biology to study the pathogenesis of the biowarfare intracellular pathogen Burkholderia; Mucosal Immunology.

Immune restoration in HIV-infected patients. I established virologic correlates of immune reconstitution in children and adults, and identified immune correlates of protection against CMV infection in HIV-infected patients on HAART. I recently described an inhibitory mechanism of cellular immunity operative in HIV-infected patients, but not in healthy individuals. This is the current object of more in-depth studies at sub-cellular level. I developed several lines of investigation of CMV-specific immunity in transplant patients, including the following: impact of CMV infection on graft rejection;immune restoration in bone marrow transplant recipients and immune correlates of protection against CMV infections; use of dendritic cells for establishment of CMV-specific immunity in stem cell and cord blood transplant recipients. Immunodeficiency; Immunology

Human tissue culture - esp. culture of human blood and intestinal tissue, and immune function assays. Dendritic cell and T cell function, flow cytometry, CFSE proliferation, ELISA. Isolation of multiple cell types. Mucosal Immunology; Vaccines.