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Faculty Profile Last Modified Time: 10:47:46 AM Tue, 26 May 2020   Contact Information David H. Walker Associated Profiles  Professor, Pathology, Director, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease and WHO Collaborating Center for Tropical Diseases, UT Medical Branch at Galveston   Mail Box: 0609, Keiller Building, Room No.: 1.104D    dwalker@utmb.edu     409-772-3989    Web Link    Rickettsia, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever, Fever, Ehrlichiosis, Ehrlichia, Ehrlichia Chaffeensis, Infection, Ticks    Associated Profiles Research and Expertise Affiliations Appointments  Research and Expertise Research Interests   Dr. Walker's research interests are broadly in the area of obligatory intracellular bacteria that are transmitted by arthropod vectors. Two research projects currently funded by the NIH are focused on immune mechanisms against rickettsiae and ehrlichiae and identification of the protein antigens that stimulate immunity. Although the diseases caused by rickettsiae include many long known and feared life threatening infections such as Rocky Mountain spotted fever and epidemic typhus, elucidation of their molecular composition and effector immune mechanisms remains productive lines of investigation. In contrast, human ehrlichioses are truly emerging infectious diseases that were unknown until recently and are causing increasingly prevalent, severe infections. Ehrlichial pathogenesis and immunity are in the process of being discovered and investigated at present for these novel organisms. His research on immunity pursues hypotheses involving studies of innate immunity including NKT cells, natural killer cells, and γδ T cells, and adaptive immunity including antibodies, endothelial biology, and T regulatory cells. His investigative armamentarium includes outstanding mouse models of spotted fever and typhus rickettsioses and monocytotropic ehrlichioses, which lend themselves to the study of pathogenesis as well as immunity. The molecular studies of rickettsiae are focused on rickettsial virulence mechanisms, while the investigations of Ehrlichia chaffeensis, E. canis, E. muris, and Ixodes ovatus Ehrlichia are focused on immunodominant proteins as vaccine candidates. Other projects include development of vaccines against R. prowazekii, E. canis, and E. chaffeensis, and development of new diagnostic tests utilizing patented intellectual property. New initiatives include vector biology of tick-borne ehrlichial and rickettsial infections.  Publications/Creative Works Click here to search for this faculty member's publications on PubMed.  Affiliations  Research Consortia GCC Consortium for Antimicrobial Resistance (GCC AMR)  Appointments Title Department / School Institution Professor Pathology UT Medical Branch at Galveston

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