The major goal is to study the role of ILC3 type cells in the mucosal immunity to Mtb infections in macaques. Role: Sub-PI

19-053 The major goal is to develop reagents for and to identify antigen-specific T cell responses in macaques with persistent and cured LTBI. In the first three years of this program project we have infected 12 macaques with ultra low-dose of Mtb to generate LTBI, and developed a model for LTBI clearance by treating half the animals with INH/RIF weekly regimen for 12 weeks. We will now study correlates of clearance in INH/RIF treated and untreated animals using banked PBMCs, stimulated BAL and lung cell samples.

Fellowship for Colwyn Headley.

Fungal infections constitute a major threat to an ever expanding spectrum of immune- and medically-compromised patients. The opportunistic pathogenic fungi Candida spp., Aspergillus spp. and Cryptococcus neoformans are among the most common etiologic agents of mycoses; but infections caused by other yeasts and moulds are on the rise as advances in modern medicine prolongs lives resulting in increasingly susceptible and vulnerable patients.

Increased inflammation affects the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis (M.tb) infection in old and young mice in ways not yet understood. The project objective is to determine the mechanisms in which inflammation influences the response to early M.tb infection in young and old mice. The goal of the project is to determine ways inflammation can be modulated with anti-inflammatory treatment to improveM.tb infection outcome in young and old mice, and to apply this knowledge to benefit tuberculosis disease outcome in elderly persons and persons with increased inflammation.

Cerebral Malaria (CM) is an encephalopathy that causes an estimated 343,000 yearly deaths as a result of Plasmodium falciparum infection. Survivors experience long-term neurological sequelae. Cerebral vascular dysfunction is well documented on autopsy of CM patients. Signs include congestion of cerebral blood vessels, adhesion of both parasites and leukocytes to the vascular endothelium, and thrombi in all verified CM patients.

We propose a strategy of host derived IL-10 modulation, strictly at the time of vaccination for generating a qualitatively different set of T cells resulting in sustained long-term protection against M.tb infection in mice.

The goal of this research project is to perform Ebola infected PK/PD qPCR analysis for the efficacy study of mAb therapeutic against EBOV lethal challenge in rhesus macaques.

This program will test the immunogenicity and efficacy of a novel HIV vaccine.