The Host Defense Group of the Laboratory of Respiratory Biology, Division of Intramural Research, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, headed by Michael B. Fessler, MD now enters its ninth year at the NIEHS since inception. During the past year, Dr. Fessler was granted tenure in the NIH intramural research program. Publications since the last annual report include: 1) a collaborative report showing that the localization inside cells of the immunity related GTPases Irgm1 is controlled by its modification with the fatty acid palmitate (Henry et al., PLoS One. 2014 Apr 21;9(4):e95021). 2) a senior-author report showing the the tumor suppressor p53 and the transcription factor NF-kB cooperate to induce pro-inflammatory cytokines in primary human macrophages (Lowe et al., Cancer Res. 2014 Apr 15;74(8):2182-92). 3) a co-first author report showing that apolipoprotein E regulates the development of acute lung injury in a mouse model (Yamashita et al., Respiration. 2014;87(5):416-27). 4) a senior author report showing that the epsilon 4 allele of the human gene APOE (ie, APOE4) associates with heightened inflammatory responses in humans (Gale et al., J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2014 Jul;134(1):127-134.e9). 5) a collaborative report showing that the cholesterol transporter ABCG1 controls generation of extracellular cholesterol domains on macrophages, a finding relevant to cholesterol transport(Freeman et al., J Lipid Res. 2014 Jan;55(1):115-27). 6) a collaborative report on the acute and chronic effects of low-density lipoprotein on neutrophil function (Palvinskaya T et al., Pulm Pharmacol Ther 2013). 7) a first-author report that serum cholesterol has a relationship to indices of erythrocytes (eg, hematocrit) and platelets (eg, platelet count) among U.S. citizens (Fessler et al., J Lipid Res. 2013 Nov;54(11):3177-88). 8) a senior author report that scavenger receptor B-I regulates pulmonary host defense against infection (Gowdy et al., Mucosal Immunology 2014, in press). Additional accomplishments since our last report include invited talks by Dr. Fessler at the NIH Cytokine Interest Group Lipid Mediators in Inflammation Meeting (2014), the 142nd meeting of the National Advisory Environmental Health Sciences Council, and the Rx for Science Literacy Workshop of the NC Assoc. for Biomedical Research. Dr. Fessler also served as a poster session facilitator at the 2014 American Thoracic Society International Conference. Several of Dr. Fesslers trainees also received awards/recognition since the last report, including postdoctoral fellow Kymberly Gowdy (Second Place, Postdoctoral Fellow Poster Competition, Visiting Pulmonary Scholars Symposium, UNC Friday Center;oral presentation at 2014 ATS International Conference), and graduate student Michael Henderson (Best Poster Presentation from Graduate Student, UNC Toxicology Curriculum).
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