“My role as a mentor is to provide students with both the technical and conceptual skills that are required for their development into successful scientists. I believe that an essential part of the training process involves encouraging students to think independently and critically. Nonetheless, each trainee is unique, with different interests, learning styles, skills, and career objectives.  My goal is to recognize these individual qualities and aspirations and help students maximize their potential so that they can achieve their career goals.”

Understanding how B-1b cells contribute to protective immunity against Streptococcus pneumoniae

Antibody production against polysaccharide antigens is critical for the generation of protective immunity to encapsulated extracellular bacteria such as Streptococcus pneumoniae. Many polysaccharide antigens behave as T cell independent antigens, in that they induce B lymphocytes to produce antibodies in the absence of T cell help. B-1b lymphocytes are a specialized B cell subset recently found to be critical for producing antibodies against these types of pathogen-derived antigens. Our research effort is focused on understanding how B-1b cells are regulated and how they contribute to immunity against S. pneumoniae and other pathogens. These studies are expected to advance our understanding of how T cell independent antibody responses are regulated, and may ultimately facilitate the development of novel vaccine strategies aimed at generating protective humoral immunity against pathogens.

Selected Publications

Haas, K. M., J. C. Poe, and T. F. 2009. CD21/35 promotes protective immunity to Streptococcus pneumoniae through a complement-independent but CD19-dependent pathway that regulates PD-1 expression. J. Immunol. 183(6):3661-3671.

Haas, K. M., S. Sen, I. Sanford, A. S. Miller, J. C. Poe, and T. F. Tedder. 2006. CD22 ligand binding regulates normal and malignant B lymphocyte survival in vivo. J. Immunol. 177:3063–3073.

Haas, K. M., J. C. Poe, D. A. Steeber, and T. F. Tedder. 2005. B-1a and B-1b cells exhibit distinct developmental requirements and have unique functional roles in innate and adaptive immunity to S. pneumoniae. Immunity. 23: 7-18.

Haas, K. M., F. R. Toapanta, J. A. Oliver, J. C. Poe, J. H. Weis, D. R. Karp, J. F. Bower, T. M. Ross, and T. F. Tedder. 2004. Cutting edge: C3d functions as a molecular adjuvant in the absence of CD21/35 expression. J. Immunol. 172:5833-5837.

Haas, K. M., M. Hasegawa, D. A. Steeber, J. C. Poe, M. D. Zabel, C. B. Bock, D. R. Karp, D. E. Briles, J. H. Weis, and T. F. Tedder. 2002. Complement receptors CD21/35 link innate and protective immunity during Streptococcus pneumoniae infection by regulating IgG3 antibody responses. Immunity 17:713-723.

PubMed link to Haas KM