Academic Section(s):
Microbiology and Immunology
Education:
Ph.D. - 1998, The University of Dundee, Scotland, U.K.
Fellowship:
Dartmouth College and Medical School
Clinical/Research Interests:
Humoral Immunity to C. difficile. Infection of the gut with the C. difficile bacterium can result in mild, moderate or severe disease, but a major contributor to morbidity and mortality is reinfection. As a result of reinfection, pathology is compounded by increasingly severe tissue damage and the manifestation of a local infection as a systemic disease., leading to several thousand deaths in the USA each year. Our laboratory has focused on the adaptive immune response following infection and has observed that infection is poorly immunizing in this regard. This is characterized by a notable lack of indicators of B cell memory and a poor antibody response to the initial infection.
Our primary goal is therefore to understand the B cell response to single and repeat infection and to vaccination. With support from an NIH-funded U19 award (U19 AI174994, Advancing a second generation C. difficile vaccine, PI: Dr. Lang), we are working towards a better understanding of these issues in people who have previously been infected with C. difficile.
Our research also involves mechanism by which C. difficile toxins suppress B cell responses. We have discovered a mechanism whereby formation of lymphoid structures necessary for development of B cell memory are severely constrained by toxins. This work is performed collaboratively with Drs. Ballard and Cox who are both project leaders on the U19 program, who have distinct but complementary interests to those pursued in the Lang laboratory.
Other Research Interests I provide advice and consultation on B cell biology to colleagues in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, other basic science departments, clinical departments, and the Stephenson Cancer Center. This has resulted in recent joint publications in vaccine development, Covid-19, kidney disease, and cancer (listed below).
Director, OK-INBRE Developmental Research Project Program (DRPP). I serve as Director / PI of the DRPP within the NIH supported Oklahoma IDeA Network of Biomedical Research Excellence program (OK INBRE, P20 GM103447, PI: Dr. Akins). The goal of the OK-INBRE program is to build and sustain biomedical research infrastructure in Oklahoma in partnership with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) and the statewide Primary Undergraduate Institutions (PUIs) and community colleges. The DRPP provides research funding for faculty at OUHSC, OMRF, and partner institutions. The research funds are used by OUHSC and OMRF faculty to facilitate acquisition of renewable national-level support for their research programs. At PUI’s and community colleges, the funds are used to facilitate acquisition of national level funding support and to provide hand-on research training for undergraduate students. This approach fosters and nurtures interest in biomedical research and provides a pipeline of highly qualified students for graduate programs at OUHSC and elsewhere.
Director, OCMPI COBRE Pilot Project Program. I serve as Director of the Pilot Project Program within the Oklahoma Center for Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunity COBRE program (OCMPI, P20 GM134973, PI: Dr. Ballard). The goal of this program is to provide junior faculty with critical research support to foster development of new ideas and supplement their existing efforts to build a nationally competitive, fully-independent research program.
Select Honors and Accomplishments:
Presbyterian Health Foundation Presidential Professorship, 2014