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Michael Seeds, PhD

Michael Seeds, PhD                                                                                 Dr. Seeds attended the University of Virginia where he obtained a BA in biology in 1976, remaining to complete a MS in biology with an emphasis on neurobiology.   He then spent three years teaching science and coaching track and field in Athens, Georgia before returning to graduate school at Wake Forest.  He completed his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1987 (Wake Forest/Bowman Gray School of Medicine) and continued training in biochemistry in the Department of Internal Medicine/Infectious Diseases at Bowman Gray.  He is currently a member of a new Section on Molecular Medicine within the Department of Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine.  Research interests include the function of granulocytes in the immunology of the lung.  Individual projects in the laboratory include the study of the natural functions of secretory phospholipases A2 (sPLA2).  The human genome contains at least ten sPLA2 genes, and the regulation and secretion of those enzymes from granulocytes and from airway epithelial cells is relevant to lung health and disease.  Identified functions of sPLA2s include microbicidal activity in the innate immune defense against invasive microbes in the lung, but extend to hydrolysis of pulmonary surfactant which contributes to the pathophysiology of asthma and ARDS.  Thus, pharmaceutical intervention of inflammatory functions of sPLA2s may have unexpected consequences on natural host defense, depending upon which enzyme is targeted.  Additional functions of these enzymes affecting the natural turnover of airway epithelial cells (apoptosis) are also under study.  This work is enabled by helpful collaborations with members of the Sections on Pulmonary Medicine, Human Genomics, and the Departments of Biochemistry, and Microbiology and Immunology.