The University of Toledo

Faculty Research and Profile...and Joint/Adjunct Faculty Appointments

Robert M. Blumenthal, Ph.D. – Distinguished University Professor - Dr. Blumenthal's laboratory is studying how bacteria control and coordinate the expression of their thousands of genes – particularly where the timing of gene expression is critical – and how that regulatory architecture is conserved or changed between different bacterial species. One focus is on a global regulator called Lrp, that (in Escherichia coli) affects the expression of several hundred genes and controls the bacterial transition between life in the digestive tract and life outside an animal host. A second focus is on an unusual, broad host-range transcription activator that controls a critical timing system in hundreds of restriction-modification (RM) systems. In bacterial RM systems, a nuclease cuts DNA entering from outside the cell; this might include viral DNA that would kill the cell, so the cutting protects the cell. However, the nuclease itself would kill the cell if it cuts the cell’s own DNA, so a second enzyme marks the cell’s own DNA with methyl groups and the nuclease will not cut it. The protective methyltransferase must be made earlier than the nuclease, to avoid killing the host bacterium. As RM systems are “gatekeepers” for gene flow between bacteria (including antibiotic resistance), understanding the timing mechanism is important. The third focus is on developing agents that interefere with bacterial quorum sensing, where certain genes are only turned on when invading bacteria reach a critical population size.

Viviana P. Ferreira, D.V.M., Ph.D. - Assistant Professor - Dr. Ferreira’s research effort is directed toward understanding the mechanisms by which humans are able to protect their tissues from excessive, inadvertent or bystander complement-mediated damage. The complement system is part of our body’s innate defense system against pathogenic microorganisms or cells.  In order to protect host cells from damage by complement activation, the complement system uses a complex set of regulator molecules that are either bound to cell surfaces or that are circulating in the blood. Although complement activation is essential to the body’s defense system and is tightly regulated it also contributes to the origin of many chronic and acute inflammatory diseases.

Jason F. Huntley, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor - Dr. Huntley’s laboratory studies the complex interactions between respiratory pathogens and the mammalian host.   Francisella tularensis is a highly-infectious bacterium that causes the deadly disease tularemia.  Little is known about how F. tularensis causes disease or why the host immune system fails to control F. tularensis infection.  Projects are currently underway to:  (1) Identify F. tularensis surface proteins, examine changes in surface protein expression during infection, and characterize the roles of the surface proteins as virulence factors; (2) Use the previous information to develop and test new vaccine formulations that prevent F. tularensis infection and disease; (3) Analyze protective and non-protective immune responses to F. tularensis infection. 

Hironori Matsushima, Ph.D. - Research Assistant Professor - Dr. Matsushima's research is studying molecular mechanisms regulating the function of dendritic cells, which play crucial roles in the induction of both innate and adaptive immunity.

Isabel Novella, Ph.D.- Professor - Dr. Novella studies the evolution of viruses and how this knowledge can help fight viral infections. Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) is used as a model to study specific aspects of virus evolution and general issues of population genetics. VSV is grouped together with important pathogens (measles, influenza, poliovirus, HIV, hepatitis A, B and C viruses, etc.) among viruses whose genomic information is stored in RNA instead of DNA. RNA replication is error-prone, and therefore many mutations are constantly produced that allow extremely rapid evolution.

Z. Kevin Pan, M.D., Ph.D. - Professor - The main research interest of Dr. Pan's laboratory is to better understand the molecular basis of inflammatory diseases and further develop novel therapeutic strategies. In particular, his laboratory focuses on the following areas: inducible negative regulation of inflammatory responses; the host/pathogen interactions that lead to the development of several inflammatory diseases, including septic shock, rheumatoid arthritis, and airway inflammation.

Dorothea L. Sawicki, Ph.D. - Professor - Dr. Sawicki's research effort is directed toward determining the molecular mechanisms governing RNA synthesis. The systems being studied utilize the alphaviruses Sindbis and Semliki Forest viruses. These as well as other Togaviruses are of interest because they produce disease in a variety of animals, including humans, and because they replicate in invertebrate as well as vertebrate animals. A cDNA clone of Sindbis that is capable of expressing infectious RNA genomes is being utilized to determine the role of the viral nonstructural proteins in the alphavirus replication cycle.

Stanislaw Stepkowski, DVM, Ph.D., D.Sc. - Professor - Dr. Stepkowski's overall work is focused on the development of novel strategies: 1) to improve the survival of organ allografts, with emphasis on non-toxic immunosuppressive agents; 2) to induce permanent acceptance of allografts (transplantation tolerance); and 3) to increase survival of islet.  Special efforts are made to better understand cytokine-induced signaling through Janus tyrosine kinases (Jaks) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (Stats) pathways in T cells.  Undergoing work aims to identify novel regulatory phosphotyrosine sites in function of Jak3, using knock-in mice with mutated Jak3 sites.  The role of Stat3 and Stat 5a/b transcription factors are explored in Stat3 and Stat5 conditional knockouts, respectively.

Akira Takashima, M.D., Ph.D. -Professor and Chairman - Dr. Takashima's major research interest is in the immuno-biology of specific leukocyte subsets known as dendritic cells (DCs), which play crucial roles in the induction of both innate and adaptive immunity.  The objective in his laboratory are: a) to study molecular mechanisms regulating the function of DCs (Basic Immunology), and b) to develop novel DC-targeted immunotherapeutics (Applied Immunology).  For the first objective, Dr. Takashima's group recently developed an intravital confocal imaging system that enables real-time visualization of dynamic 3D behaviors of DCs in living animals.  To achieve the second objective, his group established a DC-based biosensor system as a high-throughput drug screening platform for the discovery of agents that deliver DC activation signals.  Not only will these ongoing studies provide important insights into the mechanisms controlling the behaviors and functions of DCs under physiological and pathological conditions, they may also lead to the development of innovative therapeutic strategies for the prevention and treatment of cancer, infectious disease, autoimmune disorders, and organ transplantation.

R. Travis Taylor, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor - Dr. Taylor’s research is focused on the vector-borne members of the Flaviviridae family, including West Nile virus, dengue virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus. Flaviviruses are significant human pathogens and we currently have limited treatment options. By evaluating interactions of virus and cellular proteins, Dr. Taylor has identified key host proteins that are important to antiviral responses. Understanding the molecular mechanism of host responses, as well as strategies employed by viruses to evade them, is crucial to future work in the lab aimed at developing new and effective flavivirus-specific therapies.  

Mark Wooten, Ph.D. - Associate Professor - Dr. Wooten's laboratory is interested in the host/pathogen interactions that lead to the development of Lyme disease. Borrelia burgdorferi is highly infectious and especially adept at evading host defenses and persisting in various tissues, even in an apparently immunocompetent host. His research takes an immunological approach to identification of host mechanisms involved in control of spirochete persistence and in mediating the inflammatory pathology related to Lyme disease.

Randall G. Worth, Ph.D. - Assistant Professor - Dr. Worth's laboratory employs two lines of study directed at his interest in the role of FcyR's in inflammation and infection. At a basic science level, he is interested in identifying pathways involved in pathogen destruction within host phagolysosomes.  Dr. Worth had identified certain membrane domains that participate in phagocytosis and may also be important in mediating phagosome-lysosome fusion.  Dr. Worth also heads a translational project directed at understanding the role of platelets in such autoimmune diseases as Systemic Lupus Erythematosus. This project is revealing exciting new ways that platelets respond to IgG-complexes and the important interface between thrombosis and inflammation. 

JOINT APPOINTMENTS

Wenhao Chen, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX
Adjunct Appointment

Joan M. Duggan, M.D.
Professor
Medicine and Physiology & Molecular Medicine Division, Infectious Diseases
Department of Medicine - Health Science Campus
Joint Appointment

Larisa Fedorova, Ph.D.
Research Assistant Professor
Department of Medicine
Joint Appointment

Brian Harrington, Ph.D., M.P.H.
Professor
HSC Public Health, Homeland Security
Adjunct Appointment

M. Bashar Kahaleh, M.D.
Professor, Medicine
Chief, Division of Rheumatology
Department of Medicine - Health Science Campus
Joint Appointment

Richard W. Komuniecki, Ph.D.
Joan L. and Julius H. Professor of Biomedical Research
Distinguished University Professor,
Department of Biological Sciences
Joint Appointment

Qing-Sheng Mi, M.D., Ph.D.
Henry Ford Health System
Director of Research, Dept of Dermatology
Director, Hentry Ford Hospital Immunology Program
Adjunct Appointment

Deepa Mukundan, M.D.
Assistant Professor, Div of Pediatric Infectious Diseases & Immunology
Dept of Pediatrics, UT-COM
Consultant: Toledo Children's Hospital (Pediatric Infectious Disease)
Consultant: St. Vincent Mercy Children's Hospital (Pediatric Infectious Disease)
Joint Appointment

Kenneth Muldrew, M.D., MPH, FCAP
Assistant Professor
Dept of Pathology, UT-COM
Joint Appointment

Thomas J. Papadimos, M.D. MPH
Professor of Anesthesiology
Department of Anesthesiology - Wexner Medical Center
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
Joint Appointment

Anthony Quinn, Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Department of Biology
University of Toledo, Main Campus
Joint Appointment

Michael A. Rees, M.D., Ph.D.
Professor
Department of Urology - Health Science Campus
Director of Renal Transplantation and Kidney Paired Donation
Joint Appointment

Hermann von Grafenstein, M.D., Ph.D.
Associate Professor
Departments of Pharm-Med/Bio Chem, Main Campus
Joint Appointment

M.A. Julie Westerink, M.D.
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases - Health Science Campus
Professor, Internal Medicine & Pathology  
Joint Appointment

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