Steve Dow, DVM, PhD
(Former graduate student, now occasionally allowed to do research)

Steve is investigating the effects of substrate and culture conditions on growth and differentiation of endothelial and mesenchymal stem cells derived from adipose tissues.

Amanda Guth, PhD, DVM
(Research Scientist)

Amanda studies the effects of myeloid derived suppressor cells on T cell immunity to cancer, using depleting agents and mouse tumor models. She is also investigating the effectiveness of macrophage depletion as a novel treatment for cancer in dogs with soft tissue sarcoma. Her most recent studies are investigating the effectiveness of vaccines against cancer stem cells as a new approach to cancer immunotherapy.

Tracy Lehman, DVM, PhD
(Research Scientist)

Tracy is investigating the immune modulatory effects of mesenchymal stem cells in asthma and chronic kidney disease and the immune mechanisms that account for the ability of the MSC to suppress T cell and DC responses.

Leah Mitchell, PhD
(Post-Doctoral Fellow)

Leah is studying the role of inflammatory myeloid suppressor cells in suppressing vaccine immunity and how depleting or manipulating these cells can be used to enhance vaccine responses. She is also investigating new tumor vaccines against lymphoma and testing these vaccines in mouse and dog tumor models.

Ediane Silva, DVM, PhD
(Post-Doctoral Fellow)

Dr. Silva is investigating the immunological mechanisms by which IFN-_ϒ enhances killing of Burkholderia by antibiotics, using in vitro and in vivo assays. She also is investigating a new mucosal vaccine against Burkholderia, using an attenuated, live vaccine strain of the organism.

Margie Sutherland, PhD
(Post-Doctoral Fellow)

Andrew Goodyear, MS
(Microbiology Graduate Student)

Andrew is investigating innate immune responses to pneumonic infection with Burkholderia mallei and B. pseudomallei, using mouse infection models. He is also developing a new mouse model of enteric B. pseudomallei infection and plans to use this model to understand persistent Burkholderia infection.

Kara Mosovsky
(Microbiology Graduate Student)

Kara is investigating antimicrobial peptides such as CXCL10 and cathelicidin and their role in immunity to Burkholderia infection and in immune enhancement of antimicrobial therapy.

Jessica Quimby, DVM
(Post-DVM Fellow)

Jessica is studying the Impact of mesenchymal stem cell therapy on renal function and intra-renal inflammation in cats with chronic kidney disease, as well as assessing the changes in urinary cytokine concentrations during and after MSC administration.

Kelly Walton, DVM
(Post-DVM Fellow)

Kelly is developing mouse models with which to assess the effectiveness of vaccination plus antibiotic therapy for treatment of chronic staphylococcal osteomyelitis and other biofilm infections. She is also investigating the role of viruses and bacteria in feline chronic stomatitis and otitis media.

Valerie Johnson, DVM
(Post-DVM Fellow)

Valerie is assessing the effectiveness of immune modulation for treatment of chronic staphylococcal infection, using in vitro assays. She is also investigating the use of mesenchymal stem cells to suppress wound infections.

Shannon McLeland, DVM
(Post-DVM Fellow)

Shannon is investigating the immunopathology of feline chronic kidney disease. These studies will help identify key inflammatory cells that may drive the ongoing kidney damage in chronic kidney disease, as well as possibly identifying key target antigens for the immune response.

Lauren Habenicht
(PVM Student)

Lauren is measuring urinary cytokine concentrations in cats with chronic kidney disease as a means of developing a non-invasive means of assessing intra-renal inflammation.

Mike Deogracias, MS
(PVM student)

Mike will be using flow cytometry and in vitro assays to quantitate cancer stem cells in dog tumors, using both tumor cell lines and tumor biopsy samples.

Miles McKenna

Pei-Yi Thai