Administration Basic Sciences Clinical Sciences Centers of Excellence
 

Research Interests of Faculty Members

Dr. Ed Grabczyk and Dr. Bronya Keats share a research focus in Friedreich ataxia, a neuromuscular disease that has a higher prevalence among the Acadian population of Louisiana. 


 

Jay K. Kolls M.D., Chair (Genetics)

  • Investigate mechanicisms of the lung host defenses in normal and immunocompromised hosts.
  • Investigate how IL-23 and IL-17 regulate neutrophil trcruitment in response to infectious stimuli in the lung.
  • Study Cellular sources of IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 in lung as well as their signaling in response to pulmonary infection.
  • Long-standing interest in determining if Th 17 cells and their cytokine products contribute to airway destruction in cystic fibrosis.
  • Long-standing interest in understanding cytokine biology in the lung through over-expression or dominant negative inhibitor strategies using somatic gene transfer.
  • Identified that sub-populations of CD8+ T-cells polarized in vivo via cytokine gene transfer have effector activity against P. carinii.
  • Gene Expression profiling and proteomics to define this effector activity.
  • Program developing CD4-independent vaccination against AIDS-related opportunistic infections.

Edward Grabczyk, PhD , Associate Professor (Genetics)

  • Genetic disorders caused by unstable repetitive DNA ("dynamic mutations")
  • Interactions between DNA structure, transcription, and replication that elicit repeat expansion diseases such as Friedreich ataxia

Paula Gregory, PhD , Associate Professor (Genetics)

  • Research in genetics education for teachers, students, the public, and health care professionals
  • Psychological barriers to understanding genetics information and the impact of predictive genetic testing on family dynamics

Andrew D. Hollenbach, PhD , Assistant Professor (Genetics)

  • The regulation of transcription factors through phosphorylation
  • Biochemical mechanisms of chromosomal translocation gene products in cancer formation

Tomoo Iwakuma, MD, PhD , Assistant Professor (Genetics)

  • Protein function in p53 pathway
  • Generation and alayses of genetically engineered mice related to tumor development

Wanguo Liu, PhD , Associate Professor (Genetics)

  • Genetics and biological roles of Wnt signaling in GI tumor development
  • Genetics and functional analysis of DNA damage-response defects in prostate cancer susceptibility

Diptasri Mandal, PhD , Associate Professor (Genetics)

  • Genetic linkage and segregation analysis of complex disorders, in particular humans cancers
  • Investigation of properties of statistical genetic analysis methods through computer simulation

Udai Pandey, PhD, Assistant Professor (Genetics)

  • Utilizing Drosophila melanogaster as a model system (fruit fly) to apply the power of genetics to understand the pathogenesis of neurodegeneration
  • Investigating the role of protein degradation pathways in neurodegeneration

Derek Pociask, PhD,  Assistant Professor (Genetics)

  • The role of gamma delta T cells in pulmonary injury, repair and fibrosis, as well as the genes important in their signaling and amplification.
  •  How extracellular peptides such as lipocalin 2 (an extracellular siderophore) helps protect the lung in the initial stages of epithelial injury. 
  • The role of IL-12 family members (IL-12 p40 homodimer, IL-23, IL-17) in pulmonary fibrosis 

Fern Tsien, PhD , Instructor (Genetics)

  • Chromosome instability in cancer
  • Genetics education, especially in the fields of Cytogenetics and Epigenetics
  • Correlation between DNA methylation with constitutive heterochromatin and gene silencing
  • Genetics of the Acadian population

Mingquan Zheng, M.D., Assistant Professor (Genetics)

  • Investigate mechanisms of lung host defenses in normal and immunocompromised hosts. 
  • Developing CD4-independent vaccination against AIDS-related opportunistic infections and influenza. 
  • Investigating how IL-23 and IL-17 regulate neutrophil recruitment in response to infectious stimuli in the lung. 


 Conjoint Faculty:

Yan Cui, PhD , Assistant Professor (Medicine)

  • Genetic modification of hematopoietic stem cells and targeted transgene expression
  • Modulation of host immune function for the treatment of cancer and/or autoimmune diseases

Michael Lan, PhD , Associate Professor (Pediatrics)

  • Molecular mechanisms of islet cell growth and differentiation
  • Genetic defects in diabetes mellitus

Donna Neumann, PhD, Assistant Research Professor (Ophthalmology)|

  • Epigenetic Modifications Regulating Ocular HSV-1 Latency and Reactiviation

Donald Mercante, PhD , Professor (Biostatistics; School of Public Health)

  • Statistical methodology and experimental design
  • Clinical trials

Augusto Ochoa, MD, PhD , Professor (Pediatrics) and Director,
       Stanley S. Scott Cancer Center

  • T cell function
  • Cytokine production
  • Macrophage-T cell interaction
  • Immune regulation
  • Immune dysfunction and disease
  • Tumor Immunology

Allal Ouhtit, MPh, PhD . Assistant Professor (Pathology)

  • CD44 and invasion/metastasis of melanoma, breast and prostate cancers
  • Mechanisms of melanoma and non-melanoma initiation

Alistair Ramsay , Professor (Medicine and Microbiology) and Director of the
                            LSUHSC Gene Therapy Program

  • Immunology of HIV/AIDS
  • Immunology of TB infection
  • Development of novel strategies for vaccination

Douglas W. Scheer, PhD , Professor (Pathology)

  • Molecular diagnostics
  • Identification of risk factors for cardiovascular disease and diabetes

Guoshun Wang, DVM, PhD , Assistant Professor (Medicine)

  • Efficient and persistent gene delivery for cystic fibrosis
  • Airway defense to viral and bacterial infections

Oliver Wessely, PhD , Assistant Professor (Cell Biology and Anatomy)

  • Early embryonic development and neural induction
  • Polycystic kidney disease

 Emeritus Faculty:

Bronya J. B. Keats, PhD , Professor and Former Head (Genetics)

  • Identification and characterization of genes for hearing loss and ataxia
  • Genetic epidemiology of common diseases

 

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