Faculty

Faculty

Nicole Baumgarth, DVM, PhD

  • Professor
  • Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases
Research Interests: The Baumgarth Lab investigates the signals that drive a protective B cell response to influenza infection and how these responses might be derailed during infection with Borrelia burgdorferi, the Lyme Disease agent. We are interested also in understanding the development, role, and function of B-1 cells in infectious immunity and how natural IgM regulates the adaptive immune response.
Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Charles Bevins, MD, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: My group is interested in defining mechanisms that mediate homeostasis between host and microbes at mucosal surfaces. With a main focus on the gastrointestinal tract, our research seeks to provide a better understanding of numerous human diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease, infectious enteritis, necrotizing enterocolitis and others.
Room 5515, Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility (GBSF)

Lillian Cruz-Orengo, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology
Research interests: My research focuses on sexual dimorphism of the blood- brain barrier +1 BBB microvasculature as a relevant contributor to MS neuropathogenesis with the purpose of developing sex-specific therapeutic targets. Using the chemokine ligand CXCL12, a key regulator of immune trafficking into the central nervous system +1 CNS as a biomarker, we hope to understand how BBB polarity is differentially regulated in females during CNS autoimmunity.

Satya Dandekar, PhD

  • Professor and Chair
  • Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Research interests: Mucosal immunity against pathogens. Molecular Pathogenesis of Human Immunodeficiency Virus +1 HIV and Simian Immunodeficiency Virus +1 SIV Infections with Special Emphasis on Gastrointestinal Mucosal Lymphoid Tissue +1 GALT as a Major Target Organ of the Viral Infection, and as a Viral Reservoir. Repair and renewal of gut mucosal immune system during therapy.

Maneesh Dave, MD, MPH

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Internal Medicine
Research Interests: Regenerative medicine, microbiome studies, clinical trials, and developing next-generation tools that can predict/assess response to IBD therapies.

Allison Ehrlich, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Environmental & Molecular Toxicology
Research interests: mechanisms by which the environment influences susceptibility to immune-mediated disease; identify the mechanisms by which AhR activation leads to divergent CD4+ T cell fates, and test the hypothesis that the interaction between diverse AhR ligands, the host immune system, and the microbiome influences susceptibility to type 1 diabetes.

Laurel Gershwin, DVM, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology
Research interests: 1. Host response to Bovine and human respiratory syncytial virus: mechanisms of pathogenesis,response to immunomodulation and antiviral therapy, including transcriptome analysis and alteration in immune cell populations. 2. Innate mechanisms of antiviral defense against respiratory viruses in the lung.
3327 Vet Med 3A

Tzipora Goldkorn, PhD

  • Professor
  • Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Research Interests: Our research is focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of lung injury diseases and lung cancer. We study ceramide/sphingomyelin signal transduction in stress modulation and apoptosis; molecular mechanisms of nSMase2 and EGFR activation under oxidative stress and TKIs resistance development; and molecular mechanisms of EMT regulated by ceramide metabolites. We use transgenic mice models, animal exposures and imaging, and a range of cell biology and biochemistry methodologies.

Angela Haczku, MD, PhD

  • Professor & Associate Dean of Research
  • Pulmonary & Critical Care Medicine
Research Interests: Airway inflammation caused by environmental exposures (allergen, cigarette smoke, ozone inhalation, or psychosocial stress) in asthma and COPD. Innate and adaptive immune crosstalk and mechanisms of corticosteroid resistance. Lung physiology and a wide spectrum of immunological cell and molecular biology techniques.

Volkmar Heinrich, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Molecular-to-cellular bioengineering/biomechanics: Our multiscale approach uses the tools of mechanics and high-resolution optical microscopy to deepen the understanding of how nature does things in the nanoworld and where pathogens may attack our natural defenses. On the smallest scale, we characterize isolated single-molecule interactions using ultrasensitive force microscopes.

Samuel Hwang, MD, PhD

  • Professor & Department Chair
  • Department of Dermatology
Research Interests: Leukocyte and cancer cell trafficking. Long standing interest in the role of chemokine receptors, including CCR6 and CXCR4 in immune cells as well as cancer cells.

Rivkah Isseroff, MD

  • Professor
  • Department of Dermatology
Research Interests: We study wound repair, using in vitro, animal, and human ex vivo models. Current work: catecholamines, adrenergic receptor signaling and neuroimmune modulation of the wound and its microbiome, generation of an MSC-bioengineered tissue to improve healing. Bench-to-beside translation in our wound clinic.
Institute for Regenerative Cures

Smita Iyer, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases
  • California National Primate Research Center
Research Interests: Our lab has three main areas of focus: 1. Developing an effective HIV vaccine. 2. Understanding mechanisms of HIV susceptibility. 3. Unravelling pathogenesis of neuroinflammation.
Center for Immunology and Infectious Diseases

Renu Jain, PhD

  • Principal Scientist, Discovery Biology
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Company
UC Davis partner in the Advanced Degree Program for Corporate Employees

Hong Ji, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology
Research Interests: Dr. Ji’s research group is focused on elucidating the epigenetic regulation of chronic diseases such as childhood asthma and examining how epigenetic mechanisms mediate the impact of environmental exposures during critical developmental windows (e.g., infancy) on increased disease susceptibility.
California National Primate Research Center

Kit Lam, MD, PhD

  • Professor & Department Chair
  • Biochemistry & Molecular Medicine; Hematology & Oncology
Research Interests: Application of combinatorial library methods for basic research and drug discovery, nanotherapeutics, immunotherapeutics, peptide targeted-therapy for cancer, peptide immunochemistry, proteomics, chemical biology, bioconjugate chemistry, substrates and inhibitors for tyrosine kinase, tyrosine sulfotransferases and proteases, development of anti-microbial agents.

Pamela Lein, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Molecular Biosciences
Research Interests: Determining the influence of inflammatory cells and cytokines on the structure and function of neurons in the brain and in the lung, and evaluating the role of such interactions in neuro-developmental disorders, neurotoxic syndromes and asthma.

Patrick Leung, PhD

  • Adjunct Professor
  • Department of Rheumatology, Allergy & Clinical Immunology
Research Interests: Molecular basis and Immunotherapy of primary biliary cholangitis. Molecular immunology of food allergens and immunotherapy of seafood allergy.

Jamal Lewis, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: The Immuno-modulatory Biomaterials Laboratory focuses on the development of novel biomaterial systems that can manipulate the immune system. Our primary goal is to design the next generation of immunotherapeutics.
3315 Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility

Emanual Maverakis, MD

  • Professor
  • Dermatology
Research Interests: Autoimmunity, basic T cell biology, and cancer immunology. Projects look at the role of glycans in these areas of interest. Other projects focus on utilizing T cell repertoire analysis as a tool to study immune responses.

Kimberley McAllister, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior
Research Interests: Cellular and molecular mechanisms of synapse formation, competition, and elimination in the developing visual cortex. The lab studies the formation, persistence, and elimination of individual synapses between dissociated, cultured visual cortical neurons using time-lapse imaging.
Center for Neuroscience

Lisa Miller, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology
Research Interests: Our research is focused on understanding the relationship between early life environmental exposures and development of pulmonary disease, such as asthma. We study how mucosal and systemic immunity is established during infancy, and determine the impact of air pollutants, allergens, and infectious disease on childhood lung health.
California National Primate Research Center

William Murphy, PhD

  • Professor & Vice Chair
  • Department of Dermatology; Internal Medicine
Research Interests: Use of immunotherapy in cancer, particularly in the context of bone marrow transplantation and using models of metastatic disease. How the immune system normally suppresses itself and how the tumor further suppresses attempts by the immune system to attack it.
Institute for Regenerative Cures

Robert O'Donnell, MD, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Hematology & Oncology
Research Interests: Radioimmuotherapy using radionuclide-labelled, cancer-specific monoclonal antibodies for treatment of patients with metastatic breast or prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Use of nude mouse models to explore synergy between this radioimmunotherapy and other drugs. Molecular, genetic changes caused by therapy and their effects on apoptosis. Molecular engineering of new antibody fragments capable of targeting malignant cells.
UCD Comprehensive Cancer Center

Bennett Penn, MD, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Internal Medicine, Infectious Diseases
Research Interests: Dr. Penn’s research focuses on understanding the immune response to Mycobacterium tuberculosis. We use cutting-edge techniques including quantitative mass-spectrometry and CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing to probe the interaction between M. tuberculosis and its host.

John Peters, MD

  • Associate Professor
  • Department of Internal Medicine; Geriatric Medicine Center for Aging
Research Interests: Define functional roles for extracellular matrix proteins, with emphasis on the fibronectin family of alternatively spliced proteins, in processes of tissue injury, inflammation and healing. Specifically, to define pathogenetic roles of ECM proteins in osteoarthritis and other chronic inflammatory disorders of aging.

Kent Pinkerton, PhD

  • Professor & Director
  • Center for Health and the Environment
Research Interests: Immunotoxicology of the respiratory system. The effects of environmental air pollutants (gases, vapors, and particles) on lung inflammation and disease. The role of cytokines and growth factors in lung maturation and development. The impact of aerosolized nanomaterials on health and disease.

David Pleasure, MD

  • Professor & Director of Research
  • Neurology & Pediatrics
Research Interests: Multiple sclerosis, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, central nervous system innate immunity, development of the nervous system, neural stem cells.
Shriners Hospital for Children

Katherine Ralston, PhD

  • Assistant Professor
  • Department of Microbiology & Molecular Genetics
Research Interests: Interactions between the eukaryotic pathogen Entamoeba histolytica and the human host. The pathogen was named “histolytica” for its ability to destroy host tissues, which is driven by direct killing of human cells. We study how E. histolytica kills cells and invades tissue.

Siba Raychaudhuri, MD

  • Professor
  • Department of Medicine, Dermatology and Immunology
  • Chief of Rheumatology & Immunology, VA Medical Center
  • Director of the Psoriasis-Psoriatic Arthritis Clinic
Research Interests: Neurogenic inflammation of the autoimmune diseases psoriasis, psoriatic arthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis. Cell trafficking and the activation of T cells by Nerve Growth Factor during inflammatory reactions. -SCID mouse-human skin chimera model of psoriasis.

William Ridgway, MD

  • Professor and Division Director
  • Rheumatology, Allergy & Clinical Immunology
Research Interests: Genetics of autoimmunity and autoimmune phenotypes. The primary emphasis is on investigating mouse models of spontaneous polygenic autoimmune syndromes including Type one diabetes, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis, Systemic Lupus Erythematosis and Relapsing Polychondritis.

Grace Rosenquist, PhD

  • Assistant Adjunct Professor
  • Neurobiology, Physiology & Behavior
Research Interests: Post-translational modification of proteins, particularly tyrosine sulfation. Proteins of interest include glycoprotein viral coats, ionotropic and metabotropic glutamate receptors, and G-coupled protein receptors. Collaboration with laboratories which can validate predictions.
179 Briggs Hall

Jeroen Saeij, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Our focus is the identification of genes of the obligate intracellular parasite Toxoplasma gondii that modulate the host cell and/or determine virulence, host genes and pathways that determine resistance/susceptibility, and to characterize their specific interactions.

Barbara Shacklett, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: My laboratory studies cell-mediated immune responses to HIV-1 and other viruses in mucosal tissues, and immune cell trafficking to the gastrointestinal and reproductive tracts and the central nervous system. Current projects focus on mucosa-associated invariant T-cells (MAIT cells), Tissue-Resident T-cells, and the functionality of cytotoxic T-cells.
3327 Tupper Hall

Michiko Shimoda, PhD

  • Assistant Adjunct Professor
  • Department of Dermatology
Research Interests: Immune modulation by environmental factors (natural glycans such as human milk glycans and pathogen components) and the impact on inflammatory diseases (autoimmune diseases and cancers).

Scott Simon, PhD

  • Professor and Vice Chair
  • Department of Biomedical Engineering
Research Interests: Inflammation in response to acute infection (Staphaureus and MRSA) and chronic disease (Atherosclerosis). Innate immunity of host response. In particular, how neutrophils and monocytes travel from blood out into tissue where they fight infections but can also contribute to disease.
3313 Genome and Biomedical Sciences Facility

Athena Soulika, PhD

  • Associate Professor
  • UCDHS: Dermatology
Research Interests: Inflammatory neurological disorders, innate immunity responses within the CNS and how these affect the disease course. Local immune responses in the skin and their effects on injury.
Shriners Hospital for Children
2425 Stockton Blvd., Sacramento CA 95817

Ellen Sparger, DVM, PhD

  • Associate Adjunct Professor
  • Department of Medicine & Epidemiology
Research Interests: Conducting studies to identify molecular determinants of pathogenesis of feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV) infection in cats and to characterize FIV mutant viruses as attenuated virus vaccines.

Charles Stephensen, PhD

  • Adjunct Professor
  • USDA Western Human Nutrition Research Center
Research Interests: My research focuses on the role of nutrition in immune function and resistance to infectious diseases and, conversely, in the impact of infection on nutritional status. Current work focuses on the role of vitamins A and D in T cell-mediated immune responses, and the relationship of gut microbiota to systemic immune activation and vaccine responses, focusing on infants. Other projects also include the impact of omega-3 fatty acids on inflammation.

Jeffrey Stott, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Pathology, Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Developmental, comparative, and clinical immunology with emphasis on bovine, equine, marine mammals, and zoo animal species. Viral and bacterial immunopathogenesis of the fetus and neonate. Immunology of the bovine mammary gland.

Suzanne Teuber, MD

  • Professor
  • Department of Rheumatology, Allergy & Clinical Immunology
Research Interests: Molecular characterization of food allergens associated with life-threatening anaphylactic reactions. Effect of seed polyphenolics on immune response and the possible role in development of food allergy to peanuts and tree nuts. Cross-reactivity of a food allergy.

Jose Torres, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Microbiology & Immunology
Research Interests: Our laboratory is dedicated to the study of tumors that avoid recognition and elimination by the human immune system. We combine modulation of the immune system in the tumor environment with active immunization to treat metastatic cancer. This work involves design, development and testing of peptide immunogens from tumor specific and tumor associated antigens.

Judy Van de Water, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Rheumatology, Allergy & Clinical Immunology
Research Interests: Immunopathology, neuroimmunology, and the cellular and molecular basis of autoimmunity. Current research addresses the biological aspects of autism spectrum disorders including immune function, cellular mechanisms of immune dysregulation, and autoimmunity.
The MIND Institute & 6510 GBSF

Andrew Vaughan, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Radiation Oncology
Research Interests: I am interested in the mechanism whereby fusion genes are created. Such genes are classically the driving element in leukemia. However, their significance is expanding to a wider field and such fused genes have been implicated in the development of prostate cancer (TMPRSS2-ERG). Understanding the mechanism behind their creation opens possibilities to suppress the disease they cause.

Reen Wu, PhD

  • Professor
  • Department of Anatomy, Physiology & Cell Biology
Research Interests: Roles of airway epithelial cells in lung diseases and airway mucosal immunity, embryonic stem cell biology and regenerative lung biology and medicine, epigenetic mechanism.

Huaijun Zhou, PhD

  • Professor and Chair of the Immunology Graduate Group
  • Department of Animal Science
Research in immunogenetics, molecular genetics, functional genomics, and bioinformatics in poultry. Focused on elucidating the molecular and cellular mechanisms of host-pathogen interaction including disease resistance, immune response, and pathogenesis of infection. The overall goals are to understand genetic regulation of host response and basic mechanisms of pathogen virulence in animals, to identify host and pathogen genes that are involved in the host-pathogen interplay. The pathogens of interest are food-borne bacteria such as Campylobacter and Salmonella and avian influenza virus.
2247 Meyer Hall