My interests are innate immunity, specifically in response to viruses and the underlying genetic mechanisms of disease resistance or immunogenetics.
I am currently working on several projects including macrophage responses to avian influenza (AIV), infectious bronchitis virus (IBV) and feline infectious peritonitis virus (FIPV). We are looking at functional differences of macrophages in response to these viruses and what the genetic factors are influencing this response.
The avian system is a unique opportunity to study the role of the MHC complex in regards to disease resistance and susceptibility, because we can work with genetically well defined haplotypes.
The feline immune system is not well understood, particularly in response to FIPV, but the host response plays an important role and we are developing assays to analyze the role of feline macrophages better.
