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Program in Immunology Heersink School of Medicine

Program in Immunology

The multi-disciplinary Program in Immunology consists of over 100 faculty who identify themselves as basic or clinical immunologists and are members of multiple units at UAB.

UAB is the home of internationally prominent research programs. Newer programs in Cancer Immunology, Allergy, Immunogenetics, Inflammation and Tissue Injury, Transplantation Immunology, Neuroimmunology, and Basic Immunology of the T cell and innate systems are poised to become highly competitive.

A brief history of the Program in Immunology at UAB, written by Dr. Claude Bennett

Memory B cell marker predicts long-lived antibody response to flu vaccine

Study by Anoma Nellore, M.D., Fran Lund, Ph.D., and colleagues.

Read more: Memory B cell marker Opens an external link.

UAB researchers and clinicians are developing and testing new and improved vaccines

For diseases from influenza to HIV to COVID.

Past, Present, and Future of Vaccines Opens an external link.

Inventions that flowed from basic bacterial research have led faculty to be named senior members of the National Academy of Inventors.

Michael Niederweis, Ph.D., and Moon Nahm, M.D.

Two UAB faculty named Senior Members by the National Academy of Inventors Opens an external link.

Beatriz Leon-Ruiz, Ph.D.

In a study published in the Nature Journal Cellular & Molecular Immunology, Beatriz Leon-Ruiz, PhD and colleagues report an unrecognized mechanism of how interrupted IL-6 signaling creates Th2 bias, as well as the specific role of IL-6 signaling in that process.

How interleukin-6 helps prevent allergic asthma and atopy by suppressing interleukin-2 signaling

Jianmei Leavenworth, M.D., Ph.D.

The American Association of Immunologists (AAI), in partnership with eBioscience, Inc., recently announced that Jianmei Leavenworth, M.D., Ph.D, associate professor in the UAB Department of Neurosurgery, is the recipient of the 2023 Lustgarten-Thermo Fisher Scientific Memorial Award.

Leavenworth receives 2023 Lustgarten-Thermo Fisher Scientific Memorial Award

Tanecia Mitchell, Ph.D.

Tanecia Mitchell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor with the University of Alabama at Birmingham Department of Urology, has been awarded an $2.7 million R01 grant to investigate the role of dietary oxalate on immune function in kidney stone disease.

Mitchell awarded $2.7 million R01 grant for kidney stone disease research

Brief History of Immunology at UAB (1990-2000)

Details

by J. Claude Bennett

Charles Elson, M.D., was appointed Director of the Division of Gastroenterology in the early 1990’s and developed an outstanding program to Elson-Kimberly-Davisstudy various aspects of gut immunology, with special focus on Crohn’s disease. Elson headed the interdisciplinary program in Autoimmune Diseases at UAB. Ron Acton, PhD turned his interests to immunogenetics and continued his association with the Department of Medicine and Department of Genetics.

Robert Kimberly, M.D., was recruited to be Director of the Division of SmallBridges-CarterClinical Immunology and Rheumatology in 1994 and established an exemplary program in autoimmune diseases. Robert Carter, M.D., succeeded Kimberly when the latter became Associate Dean for Research. Louis Bridges, M.D., Ph.D., became Division Director when Carter moved to the NIH.

ChaplinJust after the turn of the century, David Chaplin., M.D., PhD, was appointed Chair of the Department of Microbiology and has continued the legacy of excellence in immunology.

DiethelmClinicThe magnificent developments in transplantation at UAB, as initiated by Gil Diethelm, M.D., especially in the Department of Surgery, have moved UAB into an enviable position as a world class Transplantation Center.

The Immunology Program has collaborative relationships with nearly every Department and Center in the Medical School. Its students, postdocs and faculty have continued to “make-good” here and at other institutions.

 

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