Research Opportunities

Faculty Primary Research Summaries

The Allergy / Immunology Fellowship faculty at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center are actively involved in research. Here's a look at their primary research summaries:

	Marc E. Rothenberg, MD, PhD Director, Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Rothenberg's laboratory is focused on elucidating the mechanisms of allergic responses especially in mucosal tissues such as the lung and the gastrointestinal tract. The goal of the research is to identify novel pharmaceutical approaches and treatment strategies for allergic disorders such as eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal disorders, asthma, and food allergies. The laboratory has identified and biologically characterized several critical pathways that regulate allergic responses. These discoveries include eosinophil effector mechanisms and the chemokine eotaxin / CCR3 pathway. Current projects are (1) The elucidation of the cellular and molecular processes involved in allergic responses in the gastrointestinal tract and lung using novel models of allergic responses in mice, (2) The testing of the importance of chemokines in vivo using chemokine transgenic and gene-targeted mice that the laboratory has developed, (3) The bio-chemically characterization of the signal transduction mechanism responsible for eosinophil activation, (4) The testing of the importance and blockade of these pathways in patients with inflammatory diseases such as eosinophilic esophagitis and hyper-eosinophilic syndrome, and (5) The identification of genes that predispose to allergies.
	Gurjit Khurana Hershey, MD, PhD Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Khurana Hershey's laboratory focuses on cytokine receptors and signaling pathways; and the genetics and genomics of atopic diseases including asthma. The research centers on identifying genes important in asthma and allergy, and dissecting the molecular mechanisms underlying their contributions, with a specific focus on cytokine receptors and signaling pathways. Current projects in the laboratory include: (1) Gene: environment interactions in asthma and allergic diseases in several cohorts; (2) Biology of the IL-13 receptor components and dissection of their roles in asthma, atopic dermatitis, and allergy using human samples and murine models; (3) Determination of the expression patterns of the IL-13 receptor components in different cell types and the regulation of their expression; (4) Negative regulation of IL-4 and IL-13 signaling, specifically, the regulation of Stat6, and (5)Identification of genetic and biological markers of allergic diseases and determination of their biological consequences in allergic diseases including asthma, allergic rhinitis, food allergy, atopic dermatitis, and occupational asthma.
	Juan Pablo Abonia, MD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Abonia's laboratory currently assesses the cell surface moieties that regulate the migration of mast cell precursors in mice, while assessing the importance of mast cells in eosinophilic gastrointestinal disorders.
	Amal H. Assa'ad, MD Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Assa'ad is currently conducting clinical research. Her main area of research is food allergy and eosinophilic disorders. She also participates in multi-center pharmaceutically sponsored research of investigational new drugs in allergy and immunodeficiences. She collaborates with the basic research investigators in the division on the translational research program that brings basic research to the beside in the area of atopic and eosinophilic diseases.
	David I. Bernstein, MD Professor of Clinical Medicine University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Division of Immunology Dr. David Bernstein is focused on clinical and translational research pertaining to immunologic and genetic markers of occupational asthma. His laboratory and clinics are currently actively involved in a large NIH-funded epidemiologic study of diesel fume pollution and allergy in children. Dr. Bernstein is the Principal Investigator of a T32 Fellowship Training Grant that was awarded in 2004, the aim of which is to provide training and prepare allergy fellows for careers in research and academic medicine.
	Jonathan Bernstein, MD Associate Professor of Medicine University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Division of Immunology Dr. Jonathan Bernstein is focused on development of questionnaire instruments to diagnose rhinitis subtypes, investigate non-invasive devices to diagnose and manage asthma, indoor air quality in the home and workplace (treatment of occupational asthma in animal handlers, and assessment of side effects of household cleaning agents in women with and without asthma), investigation of the health effects of environmental interventions in the home and workplace including the health effects of indoor molds, clinical trials investigating novel therapies for hereditary angioedema, investigation of olfaction and olfactory receptor polymorphisms in chronic rhinitis and asthma patients, development of methods for aeroallergen sampling and allergen analysis and novel pharmacologic therapies for asthma, rhinitis and urticaria. Other areas of interest include seminal plasma hypersensitivity and chronic vulvovaginal candida hypersensitivity.
	I. Leonard Bernstein, MD Professor, Emeritus of Internal Medicine University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Division of Immunology Dr. Leonard Bernstein is involved in investigating the allergenicity of blue green algae as a cause of allergic rhinitis and asthma. He also has been actively involved in the investigation of the allergenicity of genetically modified foods. He is also a seminal contributor to the Joint Task Force Practice Parameters. He serves as an advisor on research activities within the division.
	Alexandra H. Filipovich, MD Ralph J. Stolle Chair in Clinical Immunology and Professor of Pediatrics Division of Hematology / Oncology Dr. Filipovich's research interests include: (1) Immunoreconstitution following pediatric stem cell transplant, (2) Clinical investigation of hematopoietic stem cell transplant for genetic immunodeficiencies, and (3) Biology and genetics of hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis. In recent years, her research has increasingly focused on genetic disorders of inflammation with predominant attention to genetic defects of triggered apoptosis as an important controlling mechanism of acute and chronic inflammation.
	Fred Finkelman, MD McDonald Professor of Medicine University of Cincinnati, College of Medicine, Division of Immunology Dr. Finkelman's laboratory has multiple ongoing projects that include: (1) IL-4 effects on T-cell proliferation: Studies are being performed to define the cellular and molecular mechanisms involved and their importance in the stimulation and regulation of CD8+ T-cell responses. (2) Studies with cell type-specific IL-4Rα transgenic mice. (3) Anaphylaxis. (4) Protective effects of IgG antibodies against IgG-mediated immunopathology. (5) Basophil production of IL-4. Studies are being performed to identify the circumstances and mechanisms of this IgE-independent basophil IL-4 production during a primary response. (6) IL-13Rα2. (7) Pulmonary immunization: and its potential importance in allergic responses to inhaled antigens. (8) Transfusion-related acute lung injury (TRALI): the most common cause of blood transfusion-related death in the U.S.A and the U.K.
	Simon P. Hogan, PhD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Simon Hogan's laboratory focuses on allergic gastrointestinal disorders including food allergy, inflammatory bowel disease and eosinophil-associated gastrointestinal diseases (EGID). In particular, he employs experimental model systems to elucidate the molecular basis underlying gastrointestinal inflammation and dysfunction in disease. Current projects in the laboratory include: (1) elucidating the molecular basis of eosinophil recruitment into the GI tract, (2) understanding the effector function of eosinophils in EGID, (3) identifying the biological function of RELM beta in the gastrointestinal tract, and (4) elucidating the molecular basis for altered peristaltic reflex in intestinal anaphylaxis.
	Michelle B. Lierl, MD Adjunct Associate Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Lierl's current research includes participation in an NIH-funded study, "A randomized trial to reduce environmental tobacco smoke exposure in children with asthma." Her role in this study is as an advisor for study design and implementation, trainer for the field staff in asthma assessments, spirometry and exhaled NO collections, and the actual measurement of exhaled NO concentrations, as well as analysis and publication of the study results. Dr. Lierl is also planning to begin a study of acoustic rhinometry with nasal challenge, as a method for assessing allergic rhinitis in infants and young children.
	Anil Mishra, PhD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Mishra's scientific objective is to elucidate the mechanism of the recruitment of inflammatory cells in mucosal allergic diseases. He established that gastrointestinal tract constitutively expresses eotaxin, an eosinophil selective chemo-attractant, and that eosinophils are the resident cells that home prenataly to the gastrointestinal tract. Dr. Mishra's findings implicate aeroallergens in the etiology of eosinophilic esophagitis and suggest that esophageal eosinophilic inflammation is mechanistically associated with pulmonary inflammation. His current research interest is to elucidate the mechanism involved in the development of hypersensitivity responses in the esophagus and the connection between pulmonary and esophageal inflammation. He has developed the first murine model of eosinophilic esophagitis. His other research interest is to understand the mechanism of lower gastrointestinal tract allergy, in particular food related allergic responses.
	Kimberly A. Risma, MD, PhD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Risma's research is focused on understanding the molecular etiologies of immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation in children. She examines the biologic mechanisms of perforin-mediated lymphocyte cytotoxicity. She is studying the phenotype-genotype relations of mutations in perforin genes in pedigrees with hemophagocytic lymphohistocytosis (HLH).
	Ning Wang, PhD Research Assistant Professor Divisions of Allergy and Immunology & Human Genetics Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center Dr. Wang's research is focused on identifying genes associated with childhood asthma and eosinophilic esophagitis, and on bioinformatics, particularly on comparing genome sequence of different species for deciphering functional important regions and better understanding the mechanisms of molecular evolution.
	Manoj R. Warrier, MD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Warrier's current research is focused on the biology of the interleukin-13 receptors and specifically, IL-13 receptor alpha 2, in atopic dermatitis.
	Marsha Wills-Karp, PhD Director, Professor of Pediatrics Division of Immunobiology Dr. Wills-Karp's research focuses on defining the genetic, environmental and immunological basis of allergic diseases including asthma. Specific areas of interests include: the role of T cells and cytokines in the pathogenesis of allergic disease; the role of environmental exposures (viruses, pollutants) on the development of allergic asthma; the identification of susceptibility genes for asthma; and the role of the innate immune system in asthma pathogenesis.
	Nives Zimmermann, MD Assistant Professor of Pediatrics Division of Allergy and Immunology Dr. Zimmermann's laboratory is focused on deciphering mechanisms of allergic diseases, primarily asthma. The long-term goals of the laboratory are (1) to understand the mechanisms of eosinophilia with the ultimate aim of changing the outcome of eosinophil-mediated diseases and (2) to understand the mechanisms of lung inflammation, in homeostasis and allergic disease. A variety of approaches are undertaken, including animal modeling and ex vivo cell and molecular biology.