Molecular & Cellular level Includes Microbiology, Immunology, Pathogenesis
Training Faculty
Bloom, Jesse PhD
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The Bloom lab studies the evolution of viruses, including HIV. They use a mixture of computational and experimental approaches to map constraints and antigenic selection on viruses. For instance, they have developed deep mutational scanning approaches to comprehensively map mutations that are selected by antibodies and sera. The information from these experiments is useful for understanding viral evolution and designing vaccines.
Campbell, LeeAnn PhD
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Dr. Campbell’s research work has focused on interactions of Chlamydia trachomatis with the host cell, the role of the chlamydial glycan in attachment and infectivity, and the association of Chlamydia pneumoniae with cardiovascular disease and pathogenic mechanisms. While her research is laboratory based, she has been involved in clinically relevant studies such as C. trachomatis persistence in tubal factor infertility, establishment of C. pneumoniae as a human respiratory pathogen, identification of C. pneumoniae in atheromatous tissue, and anti-chlamydial treatment trials in vascular disease.
Corey, Lawrence MD
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Dr. Corey’s research focuses on herpes viruses, HIV, and other viral infections, particularly those associated with cancer; and viral immunology, especially in evaluating host T-cell responses to viral infections. He has extensive experience with the development of experimental vaccines for both genital herpes and HIV, and his lab has pioneered novel tests for diagnosing and monitoring therapies for viral infections.
Emerman, Michael PhD
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The Emerman lab studies host-cell interactions of HIV and related viruses. The goal is to understand the molecular and evolutionary basis of virus replication and pathogenesis. The research team studies the evolution and function of host antiviral genes in order to determine how HIV adapted to humans, and how ancient viral infections influenced the susceptibility or resistance of humans to modern lentiviruses.
Fredricks, David MD
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The Fredricks laboratory studies the human indigenous microbiota to determine how changes in microbial communities impact human health. The team uses tools such as broad range 16S rRNA gene PCR to describe microbial diversity in human body sites with a focus on the vaginal microbiota and the common condition bacterial vaginosis (BV). The team also studies the role of novel genital tract bacteria in pelvic inflammatory disease, idiopathic urethritis, cervicitis, HIV acquisition and shedding, and preterm birth.
Frenkel, Lisa MD
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Research focuses on understanding HIV-1-drug-resistance, prevention of mother-to-child-transmission, and mechanisms that allow HIV-1 infection to persist despite suppressive antiretroviral therapy, including defining viruses that persist to form reservoirs, and viruses shed from the genital tract of adults when blood tests show that HIV-1 replication is suppressed by antiretroviral treatment. Her group also is working to develop and transfer practical and economical assays to facilitate HIV-1 diagnosis in infants and to monitor antiretroviral treatment and drug-resistant mutants in resource-poor communities.
Fuller, Deborah PhD
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Research is focused on the role of mucosal CD4+/CD8+ T cell responses in control of HIV infection, using the SIV model for AIDS to investigate immune mechanisms of viral control and to design and test new vaccine approaches for prophylaxis and therapy. Projects are driven by 3 primary hypotheses: 1. Mucosal immunity is necessary to control and prevent infection at the site of exposure. 2. Broad specificity in the mucosal CD8 response restricts viral evolution and disables fitness of residual virus in the gut reservoir. 3. Inflammation and immune activation influence effectiveness of prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines.
Gale, Michael PhD
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Research is aimed at understanding the innate immune processes that control virus infection and viral oncogenic potential. A major goal is to define in molecular terms virus-host interactions that trigger and regulate innate defenses against hepatitis C virus (HCV), HIV, influenza virus, and West Nile virus. The lab uses in vitro and in vivo models to elucidate key viral and cellular determinants of host defense regulation to define novel therapeutic targets in anti-viral innate immune defenses and oncogenic transformation, aiming to ultimately design strategies to augment innate immune control of these chronic viral infections and limit malignancy progression.
Galloway, Denise PhD
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The overall focus of the Galloway Lab is to understand the mechanisms by which viruses, particularly HPV and human polyomaviruses, contribute to human cancers. Research has focused on high risk HPV that are causally associated with all cervical cancers and the majority of anogenital and oropharyngeal cancers. Additional research includes investigating whether genus beta HPVs are involved in squamous cell skin cancers, and the role that the Merkel cell polyomavirus plays in Merkel cell carcinoma.
Giacani, Lorenzo PhD
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Dr. Giacani’s research aims to better understanding the pathogenesis of syphilis through the study of transcriptional regulation and genetic diversity in Treponema pallidum and other pathogenic treponemes, as well as the role of T. pallidum adhesins in tissue colonization. In an effort to develop a syphilis vaccine, he is evaluating the use of non-pathogenic bacteria as surrogates to express and deliver T. pallidum proteins to laboratory animals for elicitation of a specific and protective immune response.
Gottlieb, Geoff MD, PhD
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Dr. Gottlieb is an expert on HIV-2; his work in Senegal, West Africa, centers on the effect of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on HIV-2 disease outcomes, emergence of drug resistance, and genital shedding. He is also involved in understanding the differences between natural history, clinical, immunologic and virologic aspects of HIV-1 and HIV-2 infection. In addition, he has been studying the effects of dual infection with HIV-1 and HIV-2 on disease outcomes and ART in Senegal.
Herbeck, Joshua PhD
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Dr. Herbeck received his Ph.D. from the Department of Environmental Science, Policy, and Management at the University of California, Berkeley, with training focused in phylogenetics and population genetics. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training in bacterial genomics at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, MA, and in HIV evolution at the Department of Microbiology at the University of Washington. His current research, primarily in HIV but expanding to HCV and TB, focuses on the intersection of evolution and epidemiology.
Hladik, Florian, Geoff MD, PhD
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Dr. Hladik is board-certified in Dermatology and Sexually Transmitted Diseases (European Union). In the 1990s, he spent five years working exclusively with STI and HIV/AIDS patients. Since 2001, he has devoted his time fully to research. His current laboratory (www.hlab.science) combines bench studies and systems biology tools to understand the interplay between pathogens, the mucosa, and medical interventions, with the goal to improve the prevention and treatment of sexually transmitted diseases, especially HIV. His work spans from basic translational science to co-chairing a current pilot clinical trial testing a novel intervention to eradicate the latent HIV reservoir.
Hybiske, Kevin PhD
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Dr. Hybiske’s research focus is on the molecular mechanisms used by Chlamydia trachomatis to manipulate host cell function in order to cause sexually transmitted infection. He discovered the “extrusion” mode of Ct exit from host cells. He is actively investigating how C. trachomatis disseminates across cervicovaginal epithelial cells, how C. trachomatis establishes its intracellular vacuole, and he is identifying and characterizing genetic factors associated with virulence and infectious phenotypes.
Koelle, David MD
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Dr. Koelle’s team studies immune responses to infections, pathogen variation, and relationships of host genomics and infection severity. Pathogens include HSV, vaccinia, Merkel cell polyoma virus and Mycobacterium tuberculosis. He uses genomic libraries and genome-spanning ORF sets to interrogate T-cells to high definition. The team measures cellular immunity at sites of infection, such as skin, the genital tract, cornea, trigeminal ganglia, and tumor biopsies. Mouse studies focus on vaccine immunogenicity and efficacy in the HSV-2 system. Newer initiatives include T-cell diversity by deep sequencing, HSV genetic diversity, and long-term T-cell memory.
Lagunoff, Michael PhD
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The Lagunoff lab is interested in how Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus KSHV alters endothelial cells to cause KS. The team studies multiple aspects of the host-pathogen interactions with a focus on two main areas, viral induction of angiogenesis and viral alterations in host cell metabolism, both likely critical for the formation of this highly vascularized tumor.
Lingappa, Jairam MD, PhD
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Dr. Lingappa’s research is focused on identifying the role of host factors in modulating host susceptibility to and poor outcomes from infections. He has used samples and data derived from recent large HIV-1 prevention clinical trials conducted in Africa to identify genomic factors that reduce host susceptibility to HIV-1. Using technologies such as complete genome sequencing, gene expression analysis and proteomics applied to deeply phenotyped samples, the aim is to understand the host response underlying resistance to HIV-1 in the hope that this response could be elicited in individuals lacking specific genetic traits.
Lingappa, Jaisri MD, PhD
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Lingappa studies viral-host interactions that promote virus assembly, and has demonstrated that during assembly the HIV-1 capsid protein Gag progresses through an energy-dependent pathway of assembly intermediates that requires catalytic action of at least two host enzymes, ATP binding protein ABCE1 and RNA helicase DDX6. This assembly pathway is initiated when Gag co-opts a novel complex in cells containing ABCE1, DDX6, and other proteins that may facilitate HIV-1 assembly. Her studies have led to identification of novel small molecules that inhibit replication of HIV-1 and other viruses.
Lukehart, Sheila PhD
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Dr. Lukehart has focused her research on the genetic diversity of the pathogenic treponemes, antigenic variation and molecular pathogenesis of syphilis, the host immune responses to Treponema pallidum, and vaccine development for syphilis. While her work is largely laboratory-based, she has conducted several clinically relevant investigations, most notably on neurosyphilis, syphilis-HIV interactions, and antibiotic resistance in T. pallidum.
Lund, Jennifer PhD
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Research focuses on elucidating the basic mechanisms of immunity in the context of virus infection. Specifically, the team uses a mouse model to study how regulatory T-cells affect the anti-viral immune responses to genital HSV-2, influenza, and West Nile virus. We are also investigating immune correlates of protection from HIV infection using a cohort of exposed seronegative individuals, and the potential immune modulatory effects of HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis.
McElrath, Julie MD, PhD
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Dr. McElrath is Director of the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Division, and PI of the HVTN Laboratory and Seattle VTU. Her research pursues a vaccine that will protect against HIV-1 infection and a deeper understanding of the components of immunity that control HIV-1. She maintains a successful international HIV vaccine laboratory program, and conducts immunological research in humans in a multicenter setting.
Mullins, Jim PhD
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The Mullins lab uses molecular, computational, and virus biology methods to investigate the relationship between HIV and its human hosts, striving to understand the implications of HIV’s genetic diversity on the immunopathogenesis of AIDS, with an emphasis on acute/early infection and superinfection. The work focuses on the characterization of HIV nucleotide sequences, the development of web tools for related computational studies, in vitro studies of the growth properties of viral isolates, host genetic polymorphism analysis, and high-throughput analysis of cellular transcription.
Overbaugh, Julie PhD, DPhil
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Dr. Overbaugh’s laboratory is part of a collaborative team that is pursuing translational research on the molecular epidemiology of HIV-1 transmission in Seattle and Kenya. This includes studies of mother-to-infant transmission, natural history studies of transmission and pathogenesis in women, and studies of virus and host factors that contribute to transmission and disease progression in these settings. A central aspect of this work is exploring the role of neutralizing antibodies in limiting HIV transmission and disease, including in individuals who become re-infected with HIV.
Prlic, Martin PhD
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Dr. Prlic’s research is focused on innate-like and conventional T cell responses in the context of infectious diseases, including HIV, and vaccines. The Prlic lab takes advantage of newly available technologies such as high parameter flow cytometry and different single-cell gene expression analysis strategies to define the mechanisms that regulate (human) T cell fate and function. The overall goal is to identify how these T cell fate decisions can be manipulated for therapeutic purposes.
Sodora, Donald PhD
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Dr. Sodora’s laboratory has assessed SIV and HIV transmission and disease progression in monkeys and humans. One of the seminal findings is that oral transmission of SIV results in entry of the virus through mucosal tissues in the mouth and esophagus and that the virus spreads rapidly to many tissues. The overall goal of the laboratory is to compare findings from the SIV/monkey models to what is occurring in HIV infected humans.
Soge, Olusegun PhD
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Dr. Soge has focused his research on the genetic mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance in Neisseria gonorrhoeae, in vitro evaluation of novel antimicrobial compounds for multidrug-resistant N. gonorrhoeae, molecular diagnostics for STIs, and recently, non-human primate modeling of Chlamydia trachomatis and N. gonorrhoeae co-infection. His laboratory is the only academic Gonococcal Isolate Surveillance Project (GISP) laboratory funded to participate in the new CDC’s Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network; and the designated laboratory in King County, WA, for the CDC’s new effort to enhance gonococcal AMR surveillance, Strengthening US Response to Resistant Gonorrhea.
Stamatatos, Leo PhD
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Research aims are to develop a safe, effective HIV vaccine and to investigate how HIV infection leads to AIDS. Of interest are identifying immunological pathways that lead to development of broadly neutralizing antibodies during natural HIV infection; exploiting these pathways for vaccine-related purposes; and understanding how HIV evolves to avoid the action of such antibodies. Projects focus on HIV envelope structure/function relationship, B cell immunology in the context of HIV infection, HIV evolutionary escape pathways and pathogenesis, and HIV vaccine design.
Taylor, Justin PhD
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Justin Taylor, PhD The Taylor lab has undertaken two approaches to help protect people from infection. In one approach, we aim to inform vaccine design by gaining a deeper understanding about the mechanisms limiting the generation of a protective B cell response. To do this, we study B cell responses in humans and murine models beginning with the rare pathogen-specific “naïve” B cells present prior to the vaccination using an enrichment method we recently developed. Our second approach is to bypass vaccination and use genetic engineering to generate B cells that produce the types of protective antibodies that vaccination aims to generate.
Woodrow, Kim PhD
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Dr. Woodrow has focused her research at the interface of biomaterials engineering and mucosal biology, where she has developed several platform technologies for mucosal delivery of therapeutics. Her laboratory’s interests are in (1) co-delivery of diverse antiretroviral drugs for HIV prevention, treatment and cure; (2) vaccine delivery to investigate mucosal immunity in the female reproductive tract, and (3) novel strategies for multipurpose prevention of sexually transmitted infections and unintended pregnancy.