Research Professor
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Department of Medicine, Nephrology (SMD)
Credentials
Education
PhD | Australia-U Western Australia - Perth.Genetics.1991
BS | Australia-U Western Australia - Perth.Genetics.1984
Awards
Athelstan and Amy Saw Medical Research Award.1991
Australian Commonwealth Postgraduate Award for Dissertation Research.1985
Swan Brewery Prize for Undergraduate Honors Thesis.1984
Research
Overview
Virus-specific antibodies play a key role in providing a protective barrier to infection and in facilitating viral clearance once an infection is established. Antibody-producing cells or plasma cells are generated from B cells that divide and differentiate following recognition of sp...
Overview
Virus-specific antibodies play a key role in providing a protective barrier to infection and in facilitating viral clearance once an infection is established. Antibody-producing cells or plasma cells are generated from B cells that divide and differentiate following recognition of specific antigen. A critical requirement for optimal antibody responses is the cognate help delivered to activated B cells by CD4 T cells. This help is important for directing antibody isotype switching in B cells, the process by which B cells switch from expressing IgM to expressing alternative isotypes (such as IgG1, IgG2a, and IgA in the mouse) with different functional characteristics. In addition, cognate T cell help is critical if activated B cells are to participate in germinal center reactions, where affinity maturation of the antibody response takes place and the cellular elements of B cell memory are generated. These elements include long-lived plasma cells, which maintain high levels of protective antibodies, and a population of memory B cells that will respond with rapid antibody production on re-exposure to cognate antigen. This brief overview grossly simplifies a remarkable and complex process that is regulated at many levels in ways that modulate the kinetics, magnitude, and quality of the acute B cell response, as well as characteristics of dispersed plasma cell and memory B cell populations. In general terms, our research is aimed at understanding the characteristics of optimally effective B cell responses and applying this knowledge towards the improvement of vaccination regimens.
Specific Research Interests
Our specific research focus is the B cell response to viruses that infect the respiratory tract (with an emphasis on influenza virus) and to vaccination regimens designed to generate B cell-mediated protection against these viruses. Particular research interests include: (i) regulation of the acute B cell response to infection and vaccination and the differentiation pathways that generate B cell memory and virus-neutralizing antibodies, (ii) aspects of B cell memory (plasma cells, memory B cells) in the respiratory tract, including mechanisms of localization, role in protection, and relationship to form of immunization, and (iii) regulation of IgA production and the establishment of antibody-mediated protection at mucosal surfaces.
Young BE, Seppo AE, Diaz N, Rosen-Carole C, Nowak-Wegrzyn A, Cruz Vasquez JM, Ferri-Huerta R, Nguyen-Contant P, Fitzgerald T, Sangster MY, Topham DJ, Järvinen KM
JAMA pediatrics.. 2022 February 1176 (2):159-168. Epub 1900 01 01.
Pace RM, Williams JE, Järvinen KM, Belfort MB, Pace CDW, Lackey KA, Gogel AC, Nguyen-Contant P, Kanagaiah P, Fitzgerald T, Ferri R, Young B, Rosen-Carole C, Diaz N, Meehan CL, Caffé B, Sangster MY, Topham D, McGuire MA, Seppo A, McGuire MK
Pace RM, Williams JE, Järvinen KM, Belfort MB, Pace CD, Lackey KA, Gogel AC, Nguyen-Contant P, Kanagaiah P, Fitzgerald T, Ferri R, Young B, Rosen-Carole C, Diaz N, Meehan C, Caffe B, Sangster MY, Topham DJ, McGuire MA, Seppo A, McGuire MK
medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences.. 2020 September 18 Epub 09/18/2020.
Martinez-Sobrido L, Blanco-Lobo P, Rodriguez L, Fitzgerald T, Zhang H, Nguyen P, Anderson CS, Holden-Wiltse J, Bandyopadhyay S, Nogales A, DeDiego ML, Wasik BR, Miller BL, Henry C, Wilson PC, Sangster MY, Treanor JJ, Topham DJ, Byrd-Leotis L, Steinhauer DA, Cummings RD, Luczo JM, Tompkins SM, Sakamoto K, Jones CA, Steel J, Lowen AC, Danzy S, Tao H, Fink AL, Klein SL, Wohlgemuth N, Fenstermacher KJ, El Najjar F, Pekosz A, Sauer L, Lewis MK, Shaw-Saliba K, Rothman RE, Liu ZY, Chen KF, Parrish CR, Voorhees IEH, Kawaoka Y, Neumann G, Chiba S, Fan S, Hatta M, Kong H, Zhong G, Wang G, Uccellini MB, García-Sastre A, Perez DR, Ferreri LM, Herfst S, Richard M, Fouchier R, Burke D, Pattinson D, Smith DJ, Meliopoulos V, Freiden P, Livingston B, Sharp B, Cherry S, Dib JC, Yang G, Russell CJ, Barman S, Webby RJ, Krauss S, Danner A, Woodard K, Peiris M, Perera RAPM, Chan MCW, Govorkova EA, Marathe BM, Pascua PNQ, Smith G, Li YT, Thomas PG, Schultz-Cherry S
PLoS pathogens.. 2020 April 16 (4):e1008409. Epub 04/14/2020.
Wang J, Hilchey SP, DeDiego M, Perry S, Hyrien O, Nogales A, Garigen J, Amanat F, Huertas N, Krammer F, Martinez-Sobrido L, Topham DJ, Treanor JJ, Sangster MY, Zand MS