John S. Spencer
Assistant Professor

Phone: 491-3525
Fax: 491-1815
Email: John.Spencer@Colostate.Edu
Office: B208 Microbiology Building
Lab: C212 Microbiology Building

Degrees

B.S., University of Pennsylvania
Ph.D., University of Hawaii

Research Interests

Immunology of M. leprae and M. tuberculosis, epitope mapping, proteomics, and diagnostic development

With the support of the NIH/NIAID Leprosy Contract (Leprosy Research Support and Maintenance of an Armadillo Colony Post Genome Era Contract, N01 AI-25469; http://www.cvmbs.colostate.edu/mip/leprosy/), our laboratory provides reagents derived from armadillo grown M. leprae bacilli used to produce whole cells, subcellular antigen fractions, carbohydrate and glycolipid molecules (such as lipoarabinomannan and the M. leprae-specific phenolic glycolipid, PGL-I), DNA, as well as E. coli-derived recombinant proteins to researchers all over the world, particularly where leprosy is endemic.

The recent completion of the genome sequences of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, M. leprae and other mycobacterial species provides a unique opportunity to study the proteomes of these organisms using high throughput methodologies, such as 2-D PAGE and LC-MS-MS. Our research is focused on the following: (1) defining B and T cell epitopes of immunologically important proteins of M. leprae and M. tuberculosis that are recognized in animal infection models and human disease; (2) define disease-state-specific antigens of tuberculoid and lepromatous leprosy patients using ELISA, Western blot and protein/peptide microarray techniques; (3) identify recombinant proteins and/or peptides that can be combined to develop a simple in vitro blood test towards the early diagnosis of leprosy; 4) examine T cell and serological responses to unique and low-homology M. leprae proteins identified by in silico analysis. Our overall goals of the above projects are geared to the development of improved diagnostics, vaccines, and further understand the cell mediated and humoral immune responses representing the spectrum of leprosy disease.

Selected Publications

Pub Med for Spencer JS.

Geluk, A., J. S. Spencer, K. Bobosha, M. C. V. Pessolani, G. M. B. Pereira, S. Banu, N. Honoré, S. T. Reece, M. MacDonald, B. R. Sapkota, C. Ranjit, K. L. M. C. Franken, M. Zewdie, A. Aseffa, R. Hussain, M. M. Stefani, S.-N. Cho, L. Oskam, P. J. Brennan, and H. M. Dockrell on behalf of the IDEAL Consortium. 2009. From genome-based in silico predictions to ex vivo verification of leprosy diagnosis. Clin. Vacc. Immunol. 16:352-359.

Han, X. Y., Y.-H. Seo, K. C. Sizer, T. Shoberle, G. S. May, J. S. Spencer, W. Li, and R. G. Nair. 2008. A new Mycobacterium species causing diffuse lepromatous leprosy. Am. J. Clin. Path. 130:856-864.

Marques, M. A. M., A. G. C. Neves-Ferreira, E. K. X. da Silveira, R. H. Valente, A. Chapeaurouge, J. Perales, R. da Silva Bernardes, K. M. Dobos, J. S. Spencer, P. J. Brennan, and M. C. V. Pessolani. 2008. Deciphering the proteomic profile of the Mycobacterium leprae cell envelope. Proteomics 8:2477-2491.

Spencer, J. S., H. M. Dockrell, H. J. Kim, M. A. M. Marques, D. L. Williams, M. V. B. S. Martins, M. L. F. Martins, M. C. B. S. Lima, E. N. Sarno, G. M. B. Pereira, H. Matos, L. S. Fonseca, E. P. Sampaio, T. H. M. Ottenhoff, A. Geluk, S.-N. Cho, N. G. Stoker, S. T. Cole, P. J. Brennan, and M. C. V. Pessolani. 2005. Identification of specific proteins and peptides in Mycobacterium leprae suitable for the selective diagnosis of leprosy. J. Immunol. 175:7930-7938.

Monot, M., N. Honore, T. Garnier, R. Araoz, J.-Y. Coppee, C. Lacroix, S. Sow, J. S. Spencer, R. W. Truman, D. L. Williams, R. Gelber, M. Virmond, B. Flageul, S.-N. Cho, B. Ji, I. Vasquez, A. P. Mondolfi, J. Convit, S. Young, V. Rasolofo, P. J. Brennan, and S. T. Cole. 2005. On the origin of leprosy. Science 308:1040-1042.

Spencer, J. S., H. J. Kim, A. M. Marques, M. Gonzalez-Juarerro, M. C. B. S. Lima, V. D. Vissa, R. W. Truman, M. L. Gennaro, S.-N. Cho, S. T. Cole, and P. J. Brennan. 2004. Comparative analysis of B and T cell epitopes of the Mycobacterium leprae and Mycobacterium tuberculosis culture filtrate protein-10. Infect. Immun. 72:3161-3170.