Prabir Ray, PhD

Conceptual Schematic

THE THREE MOST SIGNIFICANT QUESTIONS THAT DEFINE YOUR RESEARCH PROGRAM:
How can we boost innate immunity and epithelial protection against infection by respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) in infants?

In the context of infant immunity, how does the gut microbiome influence defense against RSV via the gut-lung axis?

What factors prevent resolution of inflammation in bacterial pneumonia and use of small molecule inhibitors to intercept the process?

FIVE KEYWORDS THAT DESCRIBE YOUR AREAS OF INTEREST:
Infant immunity
Respiratory Syncytial virus
Protection of epithelial cell integrity
Acute lung injury
Resolution of bacterial pneumonia

TECHNIQUES, MODELS, METHODS, ANALYTIC APPROACHES, ETC:
Model of viral infection in neonatal mice using WT and gene knockout mice
Model of bacterial pneumonia in mice (WT and gene knockout mice)
Generation of cell-specific inducible transgenic mice
Co-culture of human airway epithelial cells in air-liquid interface with macrophages, dendritic cells,  T cells to study epithelial-immune cell interactions
Use of multiple molecular biology techniques including chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assay, multiplex PCR, reporter assays and RNA-seq along with immunological and imaging techniques for analysis of models

COLLABORATORS:
Drs. Jay Kolls, Anuradha Ray, Janet Lee, Joseph Pilewski, Mike Myerburg, Rama Mallampalli, Ana Mora, Claudette St. Croix, Simon Watkins