Members

Pathogenomics. Antibiotic action and resistance mechanisms. Outer membranes of Gram negative bacteria, especially Pseudomonas aeruginosa Cationic Antimicrobial Peptides: Mechanisms of action, development as novel antimicrobials and role in innate immunity.

• Host pathogen interactions in TB,
• The role of Protein kinases and phosphatases of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.
• Low molecular weight thiols in bacteria
• Targeting intracellular Mycobacterium tuberculosis for TB drug development.
• Novel therapies against infectious lung diseases.

Developing and applying bioinformatic resources to better track infectious diseases using genomic data, and improve prediction of new vaccine/drug targets. A primary aim is to develop more sustainable, integrated approaches for infectious disease control, however the methods are also being applied to aid allergy and environmental research.

Research program aims to improve assessment and management of childhood rheumatic disease by identification and incorporation of sensitive, subclinical (cellular/molecular) measures of inflammatory/immune activity into current clinical scores of disease activity.

New approaches to small molecule discovery; The therapeutic activities of natural clays; an approach to a new pharmacopeia

Understanding how microbes interact with their host to cause health or disease, including enteric diseases and the microbiota. Wikipedia Page

My lab conducts cohort and animal studies of cytomegalovirus infection to better understand the determinants of viral transmission and inform vaccine design. In addition, I conduct clinical studies and human vaccine trials aimed at the prevention of CMV infection and disease.

Our goal is to elucidate the molecular mechanisms that control B cell activation, with the aim of identifying new targets for treating B cell-mediated autoimmune diseases and B cell malignancies. We use fluorescence microscopy, single-particle tracking, super-resolution microscopy, and mathematical modeling to understand how cytoskeletal dynamics, B cell receptor (BCR) mobility within the plasma membrane, and the spatial organization of membrane proteins regulate BCR signaling and set the threshold for B cell activation.

1. Uncovering how microbes, including P. fluorescens, can colonize a host despite the presence of an intact immune system.
2. Identifying plant genes that shape microbiome community.
3. Identifying bacterial and plant genes that affect the functional outputs of the microbiome.

Uncovering new host-directed therapeutic avenues for emerging and re-emerging human viral diseases of major public health concern in Canada and around the world: An interdisciplinary research approach at the interface of molecular virology, quantitative mass-spectrometry, and bioimaging.  Next Generation Molecular Diagnostics For Emerging Viral Diseases.   UBC Experts Guide

We are interested in the function of innate immune cells in lung inflammation and its resolution. In particular, we want understand how myeloid cells (monocytes and macrophages) cause and/or protect against lung infection, inflammation and fibrosis. We are also interested in the contributions  of monocytes and macrophages to cancer metastasis in the lung and how interactions of immune cells with the extracellular matrix regulates their function.

Immune response in transplantation and autoimmune disease, and ranges from molecular genetics to healthcare economics.

• systems vaccinology in early life
• microbiome directing early life immune ontogeny

The Kronstad laboratory studies the virulence mechanisms of fungal pathogens of humans and plants.  The human pathogens under investigation include Cryptococcus neoformans and Cryptococcus gattii, which cause meningitis in immunocompromised people such as HIV/AIDS patients. The Kronstad laboratory uses transcriptomic, proteomic and molecular genetic approaches to characterize virulence traits.

Keratinocyte integrins, periodontal disease, wound healing.

My research group asks epidemiologic questions about how communities of microorganisms that normally live within us (our microbiome or microbiota) are involved in the development and maintenance of health. Our group also works on the relationship between the Escherichia coli that cause infections outside of the intestine (e.g., urinary tract or bloodstream infections) and food safety.

Intracellular signaling by the antigen receptor on B-lymphocytes in normal and cancer cells; cytoskeletal changes important during the development of B-lymphocytes and in the immune response.  Gap Junction protein biology.

Immunogenetics and Molecular Immunology.

His research focuses on improving our epidemiological understanding and finding better ways of diagnosing and monitoring zoonotic and emerging pathogens. In particular, Dr. Moshed is recognized by the national and international research community for his expertise on Lyme disease and syphilis. To study in this area, he uses both serological and molecular tools in the laboratory and leads field work to study pathogens in their cycles in mice, ticks and mosquitoes (vectors of zoonotic diseases).

Communicable Disease Control, Antimicrobial Resistance, Emerging Infectious Diseases, Linking Metagenomics and Transcriptomics to Etiological Discovery in Idiopathic Diseases

My laboratory is concerned with host defense against intracellular infection and how intracellular microbes -such as leishmania- disrupt cellular functions to favour their survival.

• Immune system
• Childhood leukemia
• Blood and marrow transplantation
• Tumour immunology

Identifying and validating novel immunotherapeutic approaches to treat inflammatory bowel diseases(IBD), including Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis. Expertise in monocyte/macrophage biology and are trying to identify targetable mechanisms by which we can reduce macrophage inflammatory responses that contribute to inflammation in IBD, and to amend macrophage activation so that macrophages can be used as an anti-inflammatory immune therapy to treat inflammation in IBD.

Our lab studies intestinal immunity: how the body responds to bacterial infections of the gut, and how these responses can both protect and harm the host. The goal is to develop new diagnostic, prognostic, and therapeutic tools to combat C. difficile infection, inflammatory bowel disease, and other important human diseases.

Antibiotic resistance has become a global health problem in both clinical and community settings.

Our lab is interested in the structure-based design of inhibitors that either block existing antibiotic-resistance mechanisms or provide novel antibiotic therapies by targeting macromolecular assemblies essential to bacterial viability and/or pathogenesis.

My research program is translational, interdisciplinary and unique in its focus on understanding the role of innate immunity in infectious and inflammatory diseases of childhood. Starting with a population of children with a defined infectious or inflammatory disease phenotype (e.g., undue susceptibility to infection, juvenile idiopathic arthritis, asthma), I aim to determine the underlying cellular, molecular and genetic abnormalities responsible for the disease through detailed immunological, genomic and proteomic analysis. The new knowledge generated by this approach will aid diagnosis, elucidate mechanisms of disease pathogenesis and, ultimately, identify novel targets for anti-inflammatory and anti-infectious therapeutic agents.

Molecular pathogenesis in enterovirus infection of the heart and antiviral drug development