Department of Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology

The laboratory is focused on two primary research areas. First, it investigates immune regulation at mucosal surfaces, like those in the respiratory and gastrointestinal tracts, to understand how these surfaces balance pathogen defense and inflammation from harmless substances. This research could improve treatments for chronic inflammation and autoimmune diseases, as well as enhance mucosal vaccine development, including an intranasal vaccine against Yersinia pestis. Second, the lab works on advancing diagnostic tests for tick-transmitted diseases such as Lyme disease, Human Granulocytic Anaplasmosis (HGA), and Babesiosis. They are developing peptide-based tests for better specificity and sensitivity, creating a cytokine release assay for Lyme disease, and designing an antigen capture assay to screen for Babesia microti in blood, aiming to improve blood safety.

His laboratory has made significant progress towards defining the virulence mechanisms and identification of F. tularensis encoded factors, especially the robust antioxidant defense mechanisms responsible for immune subversion caused by F. tularensis. My research goals include: understanding how F. tularensis antioxidants subvert macrophage microbicidal activity; and determination of redox-sensitive signaling components that control macrophage signaling and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in response to F. tularensis infection. We have in hand both in vitro and in vivo models that faithfully replicate tularemia and a well equipped Biosafety Level-3 (BSL-3) laboratory to work with the highly virulent SchuS4 strain of F. tularensis.

A research program in my laboratory focuses on the use of non-animal models for the study of hazardous effects of chemicals as a replacement of animals in safety assessment. Specifically, we are investigating the use of the avian egg models for an extensive evaluation of multiple endpoints, including genotoxicity, teratogenicity, histopathologic alterations, and gene expression changes after exposure to various environmental chemicals, including prototype carcinogens, flavor and fragrance materials, and pharmaceuticals.

We are using RNASeq to interrogate the landscape of gene expression alteration in PTC in clinical samples. By comparing PTC and samples of normal tissues from the same patients we have gained insight into the molecular changes driving PTC, as well as potential therapeutic targets. As men have a lower incidence of PTC than women, we are concentrating on the role of androgens in the etiology and progression of PTC. Our results indicate that androgens exert an anti-proliferative effect and result in a G1-S block in the cancer cell cycle.

Dr. Jain’s laboratory is focused on genetic factors dictating the propensity of the population to develop hypertension and related diseased conditions. In particular, they study single nucleotide polymorphisms in the renin- angiotensin-aldosterone system (RAAS) with an emphasis towards the impact of this axis on the genesis of hypertension. With available NIH support, they are employing new engineered mouse lines to dissect differential regulation of target genes, whose polymorphisms have been identified in patients with hypertension. Specifically, the consequences of aging on the progression of renal and cardiovascular complications are tested in their experimental models.

Dr. Li and her team take the knowledge of thousands of years of observation and refinement of TCM and break it down to individual molecules as visualized by individual peaks on a chromatograph. This allows the team to simplify the complexity of mixtures of plants/herbs, with their inherent variability, by isolating the active components and testing them in preclinical and clinical models of allergy and asthma. Nano-medicine technology breaks through another barrier of clinical application of some natural compounds, specifically the problem of poor bioavailability, resulting in reproducible, dependable, and clinically applicable botanical products. They also explore the mechanisms of the immune system, including bio-markers, and investigate the association of skin and gut microbiome with the TCM effect for improving skin and gut inflammatory conditions.

She is recognized for her work on host-pathogen interactions predominantly focused on the human diseases' toxoplasmosis and babesiosis. Studies in Dr. Mordue's laboratory integrates microbiology, immunology, cell biology and systems biology and our funded by the National Institute of Health and the Department of Defense. Current studies are focused on translational research aimed at understanding key host and pathogen determinants that underlie differences in disease severity in babesiosis.

Dr. Okeoma’s laboratory focuses on understanding how host factors expressed in host cells or present in extracellular structures, such as extracellular vesicles and extracellular condensates, protect the host against infective agents or facilitate disease manifestation. Her laboratory has led in defining the role of BST-2 in breast cancer as reported in multiple publications. Additionally, her laboratory studies the interaction of cellular components and extracellular structures and how they interplay to produce spatiotemporal phenotypes observed in physiological and pathophysiological states.

Chemoprevention, tumor immunology and cancer therapy.

The lab focuses on the first tumor virus discovered, Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV). BV is the causative agent of infectious mononucleosis (IM) and is strongly associated with Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Burkitt’s lymphoma, nasopharyngeal carcinoma and acquired and innate immune disorders. More than 125,000 new cases of IM are reported each year in the United States, and ~200,000 new cases of EBV-associated malignancies are reported worldwide per year. EBV encodes a deubiqutinating enzyme, BPLF1, that is necessary for efficient viral infectivity and tumor formation. The lab works to better understand the role of BPLF1 in viral processes and develop treatments via targeting BPLF1.

The laboratory focuses on applying whole-genome sequencing (WGS) to study the emergence and spread of bacterial and fungal pathogens, developing and validating WGS methods to enhance understanding of infectious disease dynamics and advance diagnostic tests for pathogenic fungi. They are committed to integrating new technologies into clinical microbiology. In antifungal drug research, they have pioneered rapid, sensitive susceptibility testing methods with support from pharmaceutical companies and have led efforts to standardize these methods across multiple laboratories. Their work in molecular epidemiology has significantly contributed to understanding fungal and bacterial pathogens in the U.S., including rapid outbreak investigations, characterization of unknown pathogens, and defining pathogen virulence, bridging the gap between basic and translational science.

My laboratory is interested the molecular and cellular biology of cancer. Our goal is to identify novel molecular mechanisms underlying carcinogenesis and cancer progression, with a focus on lung cancer. The lab employs various state-of-the-art molecular, cellular, and genetic tools as well as mouse models to achieve our research goals.