Department of Microbiology and Immunology

The Interdisciplinary Program in Immunology offers collaborative research opportunities and predoctoral and postdoctoral training in immunological disciplines ranging from cell biology to  therapeutic interventions in autoimmunity, infectious diseases, cancer, and transplantation biology. More than 20 faculty participate in the program including faculty members from the School of Medicine, the School of Dentistry (periodontal inflammation), the James Brown Cancer Center, the Gheens Center for Gerontology and Research on Aging, the Institute for Cellular Therapeutics and the Center for Predictive Medicine. The cooperating units support 4 separate seminar programs, providing abundant opportunities to interact with distinguished immunologists visiting Louisville to present their latest research results.   

   Links below describe research in individual laboratories

Pascale Alard	Autoimmune disease; Type I diabetes systemic lupus and erythematosus;   regulatory T cell function; microbes enhancing immunoregulatory activity.
Hari Bodduluri	Leukotrienes and chronic inflammation in cancer and autoimmunity.
Paula Chilton	Regulation of lymphocyte survival; novel theapies in autoimmunity and bone marrow transplantation.
R. Fernandez	Immunoregulation by glycosaminoglycans and gangliosides in inflammation and cancer.
Suzanne Ildstad	Clinical and basic research on facilitation of bone marrow transplantation;  bone marrow transplantation as intervention for autoimmune diseases.
Krishna Jala	Cell biology of G-coupled receptors and role in cancer and autoimmunity.
Henry Kaplan	Autoimmune inflammatory diseases of the eye.
M. Kosiewicz	Autoimmune disease; regulatory T cell biology;  role of regulatory T cells and dendritic cells in autoimmune pathogenesis.
K. McLeish	Cell biology of neutrophils; regulation of neutrophil activation and survival in inflammation.
Tom Mitchell	Type I diabetes; regulation of molecular mechanisms involved in lymphocyte activation and survival.
Hui Shao	Ocular immunology; immune regulation by ocular resident cells; autoimmune inflammatory diseases of the eye.
Haval Shirwan	Novel regulatory immunotherapeutics for cancer, organ transplantation, autoimmune and infectious diseases.
Robert Stout	Macrophage biology; role of macrophages in cancer progression and immunoregulation; immunotherapeutic targeting of macrophage function.
Jill Suttles	Cell biology of macrophages; signaling pathways regulating macrophage function;  role of macrophages in autoimmune and infectious diseases and in cancer.
Douglas Taylor	Immunology of pregnancy and gynecologic cancers; modulation of immune function by exosomes (cell-derived microvesicl
Jun Yan	Cancer and autoimmunity;  Molecular and cellular mechanisms of b-glucan in cancer therapy; B cell regulation of immune responses in systemic lupus erythematosus.
Esma Yolcu	Stem cell transplantation and autoimmunity;  therapeutic modulation of the immune system to treat graft rejection and type 1 diabetes.
H. Zhang	Novel immunotherapeutic strategies regulating lymphocyte survival and inflammation in cancer and in autoimmune diseases.

Program Description   Pathogenesis Group     Department of Microbiology and Immunology     School of Medicine