Clinical and Experimental Immunology
and Infectious Diseases (CEIID)

We provide federal, foundation and industry funded research in asthma and immunology

• Training at all levels, from high school students to visiting scientists
• Grants production and materials procurement for pediatric investigators within the department
• Develop vaccines and improve implementation of vaccination programs in underserved populations
• Provide learning opportunities for student of both the UTMB graduate and medical schools

The Division of Clinical and Experimental Immunology and Infectious Diseases (CEIID) and the Division of Allergy & Immunology and its clinical fellowship program share office and laboratory physical space on the 2^nd floor of Research Building 6, with common administrative support. The CEIID division is directed by Dr. Roberto P. Garofalo, who also serves as Vice-Chair for Research in the Department of Pediatrics. The CEIID Division and the clinical Division of Infectious Disease also have close interaction through clinical studies on the pathogenesis of viral bronchiolitis and other respiratory viral infections. The Vaccinology Division and its laboratories are located in the Mary Moody Northen Pavilion, adjacent to the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences. The Vaccine Clinical Trial group, which is part of the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Science, is directed by an investigator who is a faculty member in the Department of Pediatrics (Dr. Richard Rupp). The NIAID-funded Program Project P01 AI062885 “Epithelial Innate Signaling in Airway Inflammation and Remodeling”, which is directed by Dr. Roberto P. Garofalo, is the only NIH program project currently funded at UTMB. The research projects under the umbrella of this P01 have been led by Pediatrics faculty members (Garofalo, Casola) for the past 15 years.

The Department of Pediatrics is embarking on a new Sealy Center on Lung Disease, Inflammation and Remodeling (LUDIR) which will promote multidisciplinary basic, pre-clinical, translational, and clinical research in the field of lung diseases that are associated with dysregulated immune responses, pathogenic inflammation, and features of tissue fibrosis. These clinical conditions ranging from acute viral and bacterial pneumonia to asthma, COPD, and autoimmune conditions affect millions of patients worldwide across the life span, from infants to adolescents, adults and the elderly, and are caused by exposure to acute and chronic insults, including infectious agents, allergens, and environmental toxicants, such as tobacco smoke. It is also the LUDIR Center's objective to broaden the awareness and understanding of lung disease in the research community, to train scientists interested in the study of these processes, to attract and retain basic scientists, as well as physician-scientists interested in lung research, and to develop innovative treatment modalities. The LUDIR Center is committed to the dissemination of information and discoveries to the community served by UTMB Hospitals and clinics, with the goal of increasing the understanding of the causes of lung diseases, treatment, and prevention.

The areas of research in the CEIID are as follows:

• Allergy and immunology (basic mechanisms)
  • Neutrophils, eosinophils, dendritic cell function
  • Mucosal immunity
  • Innate immunity, including TLRs and interferons
  • Airway inflammation
  • Plant allergens and IgE
  • Human milk immune system
  • Oxidative injury, antioxidant regulation
  • Epigenetics control of immunity
  • Cytokine and chemokine biology
  • Transcriptional regulation of immune genes
  • noncoding RNAs and immune regulation  

   

• Clinical trials – Vaccines (through the Sealy Institute for Vaccine Sciences)
  

• Infectious diseases
  • Otitis media
  • Viral bronchiolitis
  • Sinusitis
  • COVID-19 – Antibody in human milk
  • RSV pathogenesis and therapeutics development, animal models
  • HMPV pathogenesis, animal models
  • H. Pylori infection and role in gastric cancer
  • Clinical trials of pharmaceutical agents and vaccines
  • Proteomics and functional genomics studies of infectious diseases

   

•  Lung diseases
  • Asthma development and RSV bronchiolitis
  • Airway remodeling and inflammation
  • Second-hand tobacco smoke exposure in infant bronchiolitis
  • ROS, NRF2-mediated AOE expression, oxygen damage
  • Extracellular vesicles (EVs) and exosome cargo

   

•  Neurodegenerative mechanisms
  • Alzheimer’s Disease, biomarkers, ncRNAs
  • Brain injury associated fatigue and altered cognition (BIAFAC)
  • Role of microbiome in neurodegenerative diseases

   

•  Sexual health including topical microbicides and sexual development
  • DNA viruses such as human papillomavirus (HPV)
    
  • Genital herpes simplex virus (HSV)

   

• Vaccine basic research
  • Paramyxoviruses (RSV, hMPV)
  • Flaviviruses (dengue, Japanese encephalitis, and yellow fever)
  • Human coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2)