Photo: Virus infected cell courtesy of Pixabay.com.
The fundamental goal of the research in the Immunology Focus Group is to gain a better understanding of the immune system and how it can be harnessed to benefit human health. Research focuses on understanding mechanisms underlying the host immune response and its contributions to pathology, as well as how the immune system can be manipulated to exert beneficial effects. The faculty trainers in this Focus Group come from a number of departments across campus including the School of Medicine, the School of Veterinary Medicine, the School of Pharmacy, the School of Engineering and the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Research in the Immunology Focus Group spans the spectrum from basic to translational and clinical immunology. Studies are performed in fish, rodents, primates and humans, and involve state of the art techniques and cutting edge technology.
Immunology Focus Group research projects include:
- Immunotherapy to treat graft versus host disease and various forms of cancer
- T cell based vaccines for cancer and HIV infection
- Generation of vaccines against pathogenic fungi
- HIV-induced immune disorders
- Mechanisms of immune cell (innate and T cell) memory
- Effects of Zika virus infection during pregnancy
- Gut microbiome alterations induced by gender and route of HIV infection
- Pathophysiology of rheumatoid arthritis
- Contributions of the unfolded protein response to arthritis and brucellosis
- Role of CD8 T cells in acute and chronic viral infections
- Effects of vitamins on autoimmune and neurodegenerative disease
- Extracellular nucleotides as modifiers of the immune response and their contributions to asthma
- Regulation of antigen-specific T regulatory cells and their contribution to allergic inflammation
The following is a link to the Immunology Research Community at the UW-Madison, many of whom are also trainers in the CMB program.
Focus Group Chair Jyoti Watters
Comparative Biosciences Department
Signal transduction and epigenetic regulation of microglial gene transcription and immune function
jjwatters@wisc.edu
Focus Group Members
Lisa Arendt
Credentials: Comparative Biosciences Department
Position title: Obesity, breast cancer, mouse models
Email: lmarendt@wisc.edu
David Beebe
Credentials: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department
Position title: Investigating cellular scale phenomena from physical and biological sciences perspectives
Email: djbeebe@wisc.edu
Curtis Brandt
Credentials: Ophthalmology & Visual Sciences Department
Position title: Virology, Herpes Simplex Virus, antivirals, gene therapy
Email: crbrandt@wisc.edu
Christian Capitini
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Adoptive cell therapies (NK cell and CAR T cell infusions), Bone marrow transplant, GVHD
Lara Collier
Credentials: Pharmacy Department
Position title: Genetic approaches to studying cancer initiation, progression, and therapy resistance
Email: lara.collier@wisc.edu
Loren Denlinger
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Pathogen-host interactions important to airway inflammation
Email: ldenling@wisc.edu
Huy Dinh
Credentials: Oncology Department
Position title: Computational biology, Tumor microenvironment heterogeneity
Email: huy.dinh@wisc.edu
David Evans
Credentials: Pathology and Laboratory Medicine Department
Position title: Host-pathogen interactions for HIV and SIV
Email: dtevans2@wisc.edu
Thomas Friedrich
Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department
Position title: Immunity to influenza and AIDS viruses
Email: thomasf@primate.wisc.edu
Jacques Galipeau
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Regenerative medicine, immunotherapy, synthetic cytokines
Email: jgalipeau@wisc.edu
Bruce Klein
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Immunology and pathogenesis of diseases due to fungi
Email: bsklein@pediatrics.wisc.edu
Peiman Hematti
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Transplantation Immunology and Experimental Cellular Therapy
Email: pxh@medicine.wisc.edu
Anna Huttenlocher
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate cell migration and chemotaxis in cancer and inflammation
Email: huttenlocher@wisc.edu
Tu-Anh Huynh
Credentials: Food Science Department
Position title: C-di-AMP signaling in bacterial physiology and pathogenesis
Email: thuynh6@wisc.edu
Melissa Kinney
Credentials: Biomedical Engineering Department
Position title: Stem cell systems biology
Email: melissa.kinney@wisc.edu
Laura Knoll
Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department
Position title: Pathogenesis and developmental regulation in the parasite toxoplasma
Email: ljknoll@wisc.edu
Yun Liang
Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department
Position title: Molecular basis for sexual dimorphism
Email: liang95@wisc.edu
Colleen McDowell
Credentials: Ophthalmology and Visual Sciences Department
Position title: Molecular pathways of glaucoma pathogenesis
Email: cmmcdowell@wisc.edu
Douglas McNeel
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Development of immunological treatments, and vaccines in particular, that can eradicate prostate cancer
Email: dm3@medicine.wisc.edu
Shigeki Miyamoto
Credentials: Oncology Department
Position title: Regulatory mechanisms of Rel/NF-kappaB transcription factors
Email: smiyamot@wisc.edu
Emma Mohr
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Defines congenital viral infection outcomes
Email: emohr2@wisc.edu
Zachary Morris
Credentials: Human Oncology
Position title: Radiotherapy to immune-modulate tumor microenvironments
Email: zmorris@humonc.wisc.edu
Shelby O'Connor
Credentials: Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Department
Position title: Host immunity to SIV/HIV and Mtb
Email: slfeinberg@wisc.edu
David O'Connor
Credentials: Pathology & Laboratory Medicine Department
Position title: Pathogenetics of SIV and HIV Infections
Email: dhoconno@wisc.edu
Jon Odorico
Credentials: Surgery Department
Position title: Embryonic stem cells to generate insulin producing cells for the treatment of diabetes and to study pancreatic islet development
Email: jon@surgery.wisc.edu
Federico Rey
Credentials: Bacteriology Department
Position title: Gut microbiome, diet and cardiometabolic health
Email: ferey@wisc.edu
Lixin Rui
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Molecular pathogenesis of lymphoma
Email: lrui@medicine.wisc.edu
Krishanu Saha
Credentials: Biomolecular Chemistry Department
Position title: Human stem cell engineering
Email: ksaha@wisc.edu
John-Demian (JD) Sauer
Credentials: Medical Microbiology & Immunology Department
Position title: Host-pathogen interactions
Email: sauer3@wisc.edu
Miriam Shelef
Credentials: Medicine Department
Position title: Immune cells, autoimmunity, and arthritis
Email: mshelef@medicine.wisc.edu
Melissa Skala
Credentials: Biomedical Engineering Department
Position title: Metabolism, cancer, microscopy
Email: mcskala@wisc.edu
Judith Smith
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Stress regulation of cytokine production
Email: jsmith27@pediatrics.wisc.edu
Paul Sondel
Credentials: Pediatrics Department
Position title: Clinical immunotherapy of cancer and tumor immunology
Email: pmsondel@humonc.wisc.edu
Marulasiddappa Suresh
Credentials: Pathobiological Sciences Department
Position title: T cell responses to viral infections
Email: sureshm@svm.vetmed.wisc.edu
Owen Tamplin
Credentials: Cell & Regenerative Biology Department
Position title: The hematopoietic stem cell niche
Email: tamplin@wisc.edu
Deric Wheeler
Credentials: Human Oncology Department
Position title: Mechanisms of resistance to targeted therapies
Email: dlwheeler@wisc.edu
John Yin
Credentials: Chemical & Biological Engineering Department
Position title: Molecular virology, computational biology, biochemical engineering
Email: john.yin@wisc.edu
John-Paul (JP) Yu
Credentials: Radiology Department
Position title: Neuroimaging, neuropsychiatric disorders, autism spectrum disorder, schizophrenia, systems neuroscience
Email: jpyu@uwhealth.org