The research project seeks to understand the effects of IgE to alpha-gal on atherosclerotic plaque development and define immune mechanisms mediating IgE sensitization to alpha-gal linked to atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease in mice and humans.

As part of the iPRIME initiative, we are fostering collaborations between teams of researchers and helping them to bring their unique expertise together to tackle important biological questions related to human cardiovascular disease (CVD).   Dr. Loren Erickson, Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer (MIC) and Dr. Coleen McNamara, Professor in the Department of Medicine (DoM)/Cardiovascular Division were recently awarded a 5 year, $4M grant from the NIH to study IgE sensitivity to alpha-gal and CVD.  Other key members of the team include:  Drs. Angela Taylor (CV Division, DoM), Jeff Wilson and Tom Platts-Mills (Allergy Division, DoM), Ani Manichaikul (Department of Public Health Sciences (PHS) and Cassidy Blackburn (Post-doctoral fellow in the McNamara lab).  This proposal also brings in outside international expertise as Dr. Mitch Kronenberg (Chief Scientific Officer at the La Jolla Institute (LJI)  leads a small subcontract.  Drs. Erickson, McNamara, Taylor, Wilson, Platts-Mills and Blackburn are members of the Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research and Dr. Manichaikul is a member of the Center for Public Health Genomics.  For details, see NIH REPORTER:  https://reporter.nih.gov/search/HJb-Dpk1uU6AAStVtAxfBw/project-details/10536408