1. Polyfunctional CD4⁺ T cells as targets for tuberculosis vaccination. / Lewinsohn, Deborah; Lewinsohn, David; Scriba, Thomas J.

   In: Frontiers in Immunology, Vol. 8, No. OCT, 1262, 05.10.2017.

2. MR1-restricted MAIT cells display ligand discrimination and pathogen selectivity through distinct T cell receptor usage. / Gold, Marielle; McLaren, James E.; Reistetter, Joseph A.; Smyk-Pearson, Sue; Ladell, Kristin; Swarbrick, Gwendolyn M.; Yu, Yik Y L; Hansen, Ted H.; Lund, Ole; Nielsen, Morten; Gerritsen, Bram; Kesmir, Can; Miles, John J.; Lewinsohn, Deborah; Price, David A.; Lewinsohn, David.

   In: Journal of Experimental Medicine, Vol. 211, No. 8, 2014, p. 1601-1610.

3. Gold, M., Eid, T., Smyk-Pearson, S., Eberling, Y., Swarbrick, G. M., Langley, S. M., ... Lewinsohn, D. (2013). Human thymic MR1-restricted MAIT cells are innate pathogen-reactive effectors that adapt following thymic egress. Mucosal

   Human thymic MR1-restricted MAIT cells are innate pathogen-reactive effectors that adapt following thymic egress. / Gold, Marielle; Eid, T.; Smyk-Pearson, S.; Eberling, Y.; Swarbrick, G. M.; Langley, S. M.; Streeter, Philip; Lewinsohn, Deborah; Lewinsohn, David.

   In: Mucosal Immunology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 01.2013, p. 35-44.

1. Characterization of specific CD4 and CD8 T-cell responses in QuantiFERON TB Gold-Plus TB1 and TB2 tubes. / Allen, Nadia PC; Swarbrick, Gwendolyn; Cansler, Meghan; Null, Megan; Salim, Hiam; Miyamasu, Misato; Howard, Jenny; Boyle, Jeffrey; Lewinsohn, David; Lewinsohn, Deborah.

   In: Tuberculosis, Vol. 113, 01.12.2018, p. 239-241.

2. Human thymic MR1-restricted MAIT cells are innate pathogen-reactive effectors that adapt following thymic egress. / Gold, Marielle; Eid, T.; Smyk-Pearson, S.; Eberling, Y.; Swarbrick, G. M.; Langley, S. M.; Streeter, Philip; Lewinsohn, Deborah; Lewinsohn, David.

   In: Mucosal Immunology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 01.2013, p. 35-44.

3. Human mucosal associated invariant T cells detect bacterially infected cells. / Gold, Marielle; Cerri, Stefania; Smyk-Pearson, Susan; Cansler, Meghan E.; Vogt, Todd M.; Delepine, Jacob; Winata, Ervina; Swarbrick, Gwendolyn M.; Chua, Wei Jen; Yu, Yik Y L; Lantz, Olivier; Cook, Matthew S.; Null, Megan D.; Jacoby, David; Harriff, Melanie; Lewinsohn, Deborah; Hansen, Ted H.; Lewinsohn, David.

   In: PLoS Biology, Vol. 8, No. 6, 06.2010.

B. Alex Foster, MD, MPH is a pediatrician-scientist. His global health research focuses on children living with HIV and how to improve their clinical outcomes and quality of life. This work is done primarily in partnership with faculty at Hawassa University in Ethiopia. His recent work, in partnership with Dr. Birkneh Tadesse, has been on identifying predictors of treatment failure in children infected with HIV, using a large cohort of children and implementing viral load testing as a more sensitive indicator of treatment failure. His other research interests address obesity in childhood, particularly for low-income populations at higher risk of continued obesity and the subsequent associated complications.

Dr. Foster attended medical and graduate school at OHSU, completed residency training in New York City, and then started his faculty career in Texas before returning to Oregon. He holds faculty appointments in both the School of Medicine and the OHSU-PSU School of Public Health.

1. Gwela A, Mupere E, Berkley JA, Lancioni C. Undernutrition, Host Immunity, and Vulnerability to Infection among Young Children. The Pediatric Infectious Disease Journal. 2019. In Press.

2. LancioniC, Swarbrick GM, Park B, Nyendak M_, Nsereko M, Mayanja-Kizza H_, Null MD, Cansler ME, Duncan A, Baseke J_, Chervenak K,Malone L,HeaphyEG, Boom WH, Lewinsohn DM_, Lewinsohn DA. Recognition of CD8⁺ T cell Epitopes to Identify Adults with Pulmonary Tuberculosis. Eur Resp J. 2019. In Press.

3. Johnson, D. F., Malone, L. L., Zalwango, S., Oketcho, J. M., Chervenak, K. A., Thiel, B., ... Lancioni, C. (2014). Tuberculin skin test reversion following isoniazid preventive therapy reflects diversity of immune response to primary Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection. PLoS One, 9(5), [e96613]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0096613

4. Jaganath, D., Zalwango, S., Okware, B., Nsereko, M., Kisingo, H., Malone, L., ... Mupere, E. (2013). Contact investigation for active tuberculosis among child contacts in Uganda. Clinical Infectious Diseases, 57(12), 1685-1692. https://doi.org/10.1093/cid/cit645

Dr. McEvoy's long term research goal is to advance the understanding, prevention, and treatment of the perinatal origins of neonatal and infant lung disease. She is approaching this goal through clinical and translational projects that incorporate the use of pulmonary function testing (PFTs). My early publications investigated the effect of shorter and lower doses of dexamethasone on PFTs than had historically been given to premature babies at risk for bronchopulmonary dysplasia. These publications demonstrated that the measurement of newborn and infant PFTs can be reproducibly performed, can quantify the impact of perinatal factors on newborn and infant lung function, and can correlate with clinical outcomes, therefore allowing the study of a smaller sample size than would be needed for a pure clinical outcome. This work also demonstrated that lower total doses of dexamethasone resulted in the same improvements in PFTs as higher doses, thus decreasing the potential of adverse effects from therapy.

The McEvoy lab is currently studying the ability of vitamin C supplementation during pregnancy to block the effects of in utero smoke on newborn and infant PFTs. Since at least 10% of women continue to smoke during pregnancy, vitamin C may be a simple, safe and inexpensive way to decrease the effects of smoking in pregnancy on infant pulmonary function and respiratory morbidities. 

Infectious diarrheal diseases, caused by a variety of bacterial and viral pathogens, remains unfortunately prevalent in many parts of the world where provision of safe water supply and reliable sanitation has yet to be achieved. Persistent diarrhea places affected children as risk for growth stunting, which is strongly associated globally with reduced intellectual achievement, both individually and at a population level. As part of an effort to define possible approaches to reduce the burden of diarrhea in children, Dr. Scottoline’s laboratory is investigating the fate of immunoglobulin (Ig)—those in breast milk, or exogenous Ig, in the infant gastrointestinal tract.  This work is in collaboration with Dr. Dave Dallas’ laboratory at Oregon State University, and is being conducted in conjunction with efforts to develop monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) which are targeted against organisms that cause infectious diarrhea, and are to be given via an enteral route.  

Healthy growth in malnourished children can be surprisingly difficult to achieve, and there essentially no tools, aside from anthropomorphics, to assess healthy growth in children that are economical and high volume. Dr. Scottoline’s lab has validated a safe, inexpensive, easy to use, and accurate means to measure skeletal muscle and fat free mass using muscle biochemistry and heavy isotope labeling. Dr. Scottoline plans to use this newly developed tool to define normative values for infant skeletal muscle mass and growth, and to explore the utility of this tool in the growth of very preterm infants, in whom extra-uterine growth restriction is a vexing challenge, as a model of lean mass accrual in malnourished children.

1. Dethoff EA, Boerneke MA, Gokhale NS, et al. Pervasive tertiary structure in the dengue virus RNA genome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2018;115(45):11513–11518. doi:10.1073/pnas.1716689115
2. Leier HC, Messer WB, Tafesse FG. Lipids and pathogenic flaviviruses: An intimate union. PLoS Pathog. 2018;14(5):e1006952. Published 2018 May 10. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1006952
3. Messer WB, Yount BL, Royal SR, et al. Functional Transplant of a Dengue Virus Serotype 3 (DENV3)-Specific Human Monoclonal Antibody Epitope into DENV1. J Virol. 2016;90(10):5090–5097. Published 2016 Apr 29. doi:10.1128/JVI.00155-16

1. Wright,C.C., Hsu, F.F. Arnett, E., Dunaj, J.L, Davidson, P.M., Pacheco^, S.A., Harriff, M.J., Lewinsohn, D.M., Schlesinger, L.S., and G.E. Purdy. 2017. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis MmpL11 Cell Wall Lipid Transporter Is Important for Biofilm Formation, Intracellular Growth, and Nonreplicating Persistence. Infect Immun 85: e00131–17. PMID: 28507063 PMC5520431
2. Foss, M.H., Pou, S., Davidson, P.M., Dunaj, J., Winter, R.W., Pou, S., Licon, M.H., Doh, J., Li, Y., Kelly, J., Dodean, R., Koop, D., Riscoe, M.K. and G.E. Purdy. 2016 Diphenylether-modified 1,2-diamines with improved drug properties for development against Mycobacterium tuberculosis. ACS Infect Dis. 2(7):500-8. PMID: 27626102.
3. Delmar, J.A. Chou, T-H, Wright, C.C., Licon^,, M.H., Doh, J.K., Radhakrishnan, A., Kumar, N., Lei, H-T., Bolla, J.R., Rajashankar, K.R., Su, C-C., Purdy, G.E. and E. W. Yu. 2015  Structural basis for the regulation of the MmpL transporters of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.J. Biol. Chem. 290: 28559–28574. PMID 26396194 PMC4653710.
4. Pacheco, S.A., F.F. Hsu, K.M. Powers, and G.E. Purdy. 2013. The MmpL11 transporter contributes to mycobacterial cell wall biosynthesis and biofilm formation in M. smegmatis. J. Biol. Chem. 288:24213-22. PMCID: PMC3745366.

1. Tafesse FG, Rashidfarrokhi A, Schmidt FI, Freinkman E, Dougan S, Dougan M, et al. (2015) Disruption of Sphingolipid Biosynthesis Blocks Phagocytosis of Candida albicans. PLoS Pathog 11(10): e1005188. doi:10.1371/journal.ppat.1005188 
2. Tafesse, F., Guimaraes, C. P., Maruyama, T., Carette, J. E., Lory, S., Brummelkamp, T. R., & Ploegh, H. L. (2014). GPR107, a G-protein-coupled receptor essential for intoxication by Pseudomonas aeruginosa exotoxin a, localizes to the Golgi and is cleaved by furin. Journal of Biological Chemistry, 289(35), 24005-24018. https://doi.org/10.1074/jbc.M114.589275
3. Tafesse, F., Vacaru, A. M., Bosma, E. F., Hermansson, M., Jain, A., Hilderink, A., ... Holthuis, J. C. M. (2014). Sphingomyelin synthase-related protein SMSr is a suppressor of ceramide-induced mitochondrial apoptosis. Journal of Cell Science, 127(2), 445-454. https://doi.org/10.1242/jcs.138933

Diane Stadler, Ph.D., R.D., L.D. is actively engaged in OHSU’s global health initiatives both abroad and at home. She has worked in Zambia, Africa, with a focus on nutritional rehabilitation of severely malnourished children. She also volunteers with nonprofit organizations serving rural villages in eastern Honduras, where she trains community members to monitor growth of infants and young children at risk for malnutrition, to initiate nutritional rehabilitation and school-based meal programs, and to enhance maternal health.

Dr. Stadler’s Ph.D. is in Human Nutrition and she is a registered dietitian with expertise in maternal and infant nutrition. She completed a post-graduate fellowship at the Kennedy Krieger Institute & Johns Hopkins Hospital and specializes in the design and implementation of dietary interventions for children with congenital or acquired metabolic disorders or developmental disabilities. She studies the impact of diet on weight regulation and markers of disease risk and is a leader in OHSU’s nutrition education initiatives and research mentoring programs. Since 2008, Dr. Stadler has directed graduate programs in Human Nutrition at OHSU, which graduates 20 nutrition graduate students and dietetic interns each year.

1. Kakooza-Mwesige, A., Tshala-Katumbay, D., & Juliano, S. L. (Accepted/In press). Viral infections of the central nervous system in Africa. Brain Research Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2018.12.019
2. Burfeind, K. G., Kashama, J. M. K., Bora, B. K., Murchison, C. F., Ramos-Crawford, A. L., Nseka, M. T., ... Tshala-Katumbay, D.(Accepted/In press). Baseline characterization of epilepsy in an onchocerciasis endemic area of the Democratic Republic of Congo. Brain Research Bulletin. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.brainresbull.2018.11.009
3. Tshala-Katumbay, D., Mwanza, J. C., Rohlman, D., Maestre, G., & Oria, R. B. (2015). A global perspective on the influence of environmental exposures on the nervous system. Nature, 527(7578), S187-S192. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature16034

Ms. Leah Cronn is an attorney and is an Assistant Professor and Associate Director with OHSU Global - Southeast Asia. Ms. Cronn co-developed a global program based in Southeast Asia for Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) which serves graduate students and faculty from the schools of Medicine, Nursing, Public Health, Pharmacy and Dentistry.  Currently Ms. Cronn manages over 20 projects for OHSU in SE Asia, funding such projects through public-private partnerships that she developed.  Ms. Cronn co-teaches a graduate class of MPH/Ph.d students in public health with a focus on the role of public-private partnerships in global health and global health law. Before joining OHSU, Ms. Cronn served as a deputy district attorney, litigator, corporate counsel, launched a non-profit organization, Marathon Scholars, served on the Board of Directors for The Schlesinger Family Foundation and taught Access to Education at Portland State University.

1. Fernandez, L., Gamboa, R., Vilchez, P., Pray, I., Beam, M., Garvey, B., ... O'Neal, S. (2019). Evaluating urban taeniasis as a threat to cysticercosis elimination in northern Peru. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 100(1), 140-142. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.18-0767
2. Garvey, B. T., Moyano, L. M., Ayvar, V., Rodriguez, S., Gilman, R. H., Gonzalez, A. E., ... O'Neal, S. (2018). Neurocysticercosis among people living near pigs heavily infected with cysticercosis in rural endemic Peru. American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, 98(2), 558-564. https://doi.org/10.4269/ajtmh.17-0443
3. Pray, I. W., Ayvar, V., Gamboa, R., Muro, C., Moyano, L. M., Benavides, V., ... O'Neal, S. (2017). Spatial relationship between Taenia solium tapeworm carriers and necropsy cyst burden in pigs. PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 11(4), [e0005536]. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005536

Dr. Winthrop’s global health research focuses on elimination and prevention of infectious diseases such as onchocerciasis and tuberculosis (TB). Onchocerciasis, more commonly known as river blindness, is transmitted through bites of black flies and affects children and adults alike in Africa and Latin America. This infectious disease causes devastating outcomes – ocular lesions and ultimately blindness – in untreated individuals. Through his collaboration with the Onchocerciasis Elimination Program for the Americas (OEPA), Dr. Winthrop led epidemiological and clinical training of Latin American ophthalmologists to more effectively target and track onchocerciasis elimination efforts.   His efforts were key as part of a large elimination program that has successfully led to the elimination of Onchocerciasis from much of the Americas.    

A former infectious disease epidemiologist in the Division of Tuberculosis Elimination at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and current medical consultant to the Oregon Public Health Division’s TB control program, Dr. Winthrop has co-authored over 215 publications, many detailing the epidemiologic and clinical aspects of Nontuberculous Mycobacterial diseases (NTM), Tuberculosis (TB), and other infections associated with inflammatory diseases and biologic immunosuppressive therapies used to treat inflammatory conditions. Past clinical research includes a comparison study evaluating the sensitivity and specificity of Purified Protein Derivative (PPD) skin tests for detection of TB, studies involving interferon-gamma release assays including most recently the pivotal phase 3 sensitivity and specificity studies for the newly approved Quantiferon-TB Gold Plus, and numerous epidemiologic studies evaluating the risk of TB in the setting of biologic immunosuppressive therapy. His group has also undertaken novel vaccine research evaluating the effectiveness and safety of zoster vaccination, pneumococcal and influenza vaccinations in the setting of inflammatory disease, and currently a live Dengue vaccine. These studies have helped change clinical practice with regards to the prevention of infection, particularly in the setting of immune mediated inflammatory diseases. 

1. DeGottardi MQ, Okoye AA, Vaidya M, Talla A, Konfe AL, Reyes MD, Clock JA, Duell DM, Planner SS, Legassse AW, Sabnis A, Park BS, Axthelm MK, Estes, JD, Sekaly R-P, and Picker LJ. Effect of anti-IL-15 administration on T cell and NK cell homeostasis in rhesus macaques, J. Immunol, 197(4):1183-98, 2016. Pre-published online July 18, 2016, doi:10.4049/Jimmunol. 1600065.
2. Hansen SG, Zak DE, XuG, Ford JC, Marshall EE, Malouli D, Gilbride RM, Hughes CM, Ventura AB, Ainslie E, Randall KT, Selseth AN, Rundstrom P, HerlacheL, LewisMS, Park H, Planer SL, TurnerJM, Fischer M, Armstrong C, Zweig RC, SylwesterAW, Legasse AW, Messerle M, Jarvis MA, Amon LM, Aderem A, Alter G, Laddy DJ, Stone M, Bonavia A, EvansTG, Messerle M, JarvisMA, Früh K, Axthelm MK, Edlefsen PT and Picker LJ. Prevention of tuberculosis in rhesus macaques by a cytomegalovirus-based vaccine, Nature Med, 24:130-143, 2018; doi:10.1038/nm.4473 (2018).
3. Okoye AA, Hansen SG,Vaidya M, Fukazawa Y, Park HM,Duell DM,Lum R, Hughes CM, Ventura AB, Ainslie E, Ford JC, Morrow D, Gilbride RM, Legasse AW, Hesselgesser J, Geleziunas, Li Y, Oswald K, Shoemaker R, Fast R, Bosche WJ, Borate BR, Edlefsen PT, Axthelm MK, Picker LJ*, and Lifson JD*. Early antiretroviral therapy limits SIV reservoir establishment to delay or prevent post-treatment viral rebound, Nature Med, 2018 Aug 6. doi: 10.1038/s41591-018-0130-7. [Epub ahead of print] (*co-corresponding authors)

The Wilder lab is focused on eliminating one of the oldest and deadliest diseases in human history—malaria. Even today, the Plasmodium parasite which causes malaria infects roughly 214 million persons each year and ends the life 400,000 of those. Most malaria deaths occur in children under the age of 5, resulting in approximately 4 times the number of childhood deaths as cancer each year.

The Plasmodium parasite is a eukaryotic organism with a genome many times more complex than most viral or bacterial pathogens. It has been evolving with humans for millennia and as a result has many tricks to evade our immune system. Combined with its complex life cycle which moves between mosquitos, our liver, our blood and back to the mosquitos; combating and even studying malaria is an enormous undertaking.

The Wilder lab is focused on utilizing the unique advantages of OHSU, the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and the Oregon National Primate Research Center to better understand the immunobiology of the Plasmodium parasite and using this to guide novel vaccines and interventions capable of preventing infection. We do this through the use of rodent Plasmodium species in mice, human Plasmodium species in humanized liver mice as well as their closely related non-human primate Plasmodium species in rhesus macaques. These all require use of our newly-constructed ABSL2/ACL2 mosquito insectary which provides the parasites necessary to perform these in vivo as well as in vitro studies.

With these tools, we are primarily focused on identifying new infection-blocking or infection-reducing monoclonal antibodies as well as the mechanisms of their action. This, combined with studying the biology of parasite infection and the resulting immune response can guide us to knowing the parasite vulnerabilities on which to focus the next generation of malaria vaccines—all with the hope that this can bring us closer to finally eliminating this ancient and deadly disease.