Tulane Center for Translational Research in Infection & Inflammation ~ Research Projects

 

  1. CD4+ T-cell Immunity in the Lung
    Pneumonia remains the #1 killer of children in the world and is a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in children in the US and the #8 cause of mortality in adults. The research prosed under this R35 will shed new light on pulmonary host defenses that can be exploited to reduce the global burden of pneumonia mortality and morbidity.
     
  2. Improved Therapeutics and Diagnostics for Pneumocystis Pneumonia
    This project will identify novel targets to improve treatment outcomes as well as improve diagnostics for this pneumonia in patients lacking CD4+ T-cell immunity such as advanced AIDS.
     
  3. Immune Airway-Epithelial Interactions in Steroid-Refractory Severe Asthma
    The purpose of this project is to establish a new paradigm for severe asthma based on which novel therapeutics could be developed in the future using cutting edge immunological, cellular and RNA sequencing techniques.
     
  4. Novartis Anti-CD20
    Exploring antibody-mediated B-cell depletion and the impact on Pneumocystis pneumonia infection in mice.  This project examines the effect of anti-CD20 and fungal T-cell priming in the lung.
     
  5. Non-CD4 host Defense against P. carinii Pneumonia
    The long-term goal is to test the hypothesis that bone-marrow derived DCs, genetically engineered to express CD40 ligand can result in effective vaccination and protection against PC in the absence of CD4+ T-cells.