Current Research: Although smallpox was officially eradicated in the 1970’s [Henderson, 1976] very little is known about the specific pathogenesis of pox viruses. Today, with the threat of biological warfare, a renewed interest in pox pathology has arisen. We will be using the vaccinia virus, the typical pox model and the vaccine strain used to vaccinate against smallpox, in order to better understand how the body generates a potent adaptive immune response. Specifically, we will be studying how the tissue resident and lymphoid resident dendritic cells activate a cytotoxic lymphocyte response following an intranasal vaccinia infection. 1. To determine the relative ability of CD8+ DCs and CD8- DCs in stimulating a naïve CD8 T cell response in pulmonary VV infection 2. To determine the mechanism behind the acquisition of CD8α expression by lung resident CD103+ DC. Honors and Awards: 2007–2008 Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 GM063485 McPhail (PI)NIH/NIGMS Training Program in Molecular Medicine 2009 National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Disease Travel Scholarship, Keystone Conference on Dentritic Cells, March 2009 Publications: Abstracts- “Analysis of dendritic cell maturation following respiratory infection with vaccinia virus” American Association of Immunologists Annual Conference, May 2007 “Lung derived dendritic cells are necessary and sufficient to stimulate CD8+ T cells in response to intranasal vaccinia virus infection” Keystone Symposia on Dendritic Cells, March 2009 Papers- “CD103+ Dendritic Cells are the Most Potent Antigen Presenting Cell for Activation of CD8+ T cells following Pulmonary Poxvirus Infection” submitted to Journal of Immunology |