Dr Barratt-Boyes graduated with a bachelor of veterinary science in New Zealand in 1984 and did residency training in large animal medicine at the University of California at Davis prior to earning his PhD from UC Davis in comparative pathology in 1993. He did post doctoral training with Dr Olivera Finn at the University of Pittsburgh and joined the faculty in the Graduate School of Public Health in 1998. His research interests are primate immunology with an emphasis on dendritic cell biology and simian immunodeficiency virus infection. Currently there are three main research pro-grams in the Barratt-Boyes laboratory all focusing on dendritic cells in viral immunology and patho-genesis. Dendritic cells in simian immunodeficiency virus pathogenesis: Studies in the human show that myeloid DC and plasmacytoid DC are lost from the circulation in individuals with HIV infec-tion associated with progression to disease. We have characterized DC subsets in blood and lym-phoid tissues of healthy rhesus macaques and macaques with SIV infection, which is a model of progressive HIV infection in humans. We have found that both DC subsets are lost from blood in monkeys with AIDS and are also depleted from lymph nodes and spleen in these animals. Our recent studies show that plasmacytoid DC undergo a rapid mobilization into blood followed by massive recruitment into lymph nodes within 2 weeks of pathogenic SIV infection. However, mobilization does not compensate for plasmacytoid DC loss from lymph nodes through apoptosis and to a lesser extent infection, resulting in an overall depletion of cells from blood and lymph node. Our current studies address the impact of antiretroviral therapy on DC in acute and chronic SIV infection. This work is funded by an R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Dendritic cells in influenza virus infection: We have previously used adenovirus-based vectors as vaccines to induce protection against highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus infection in mice and chickens. We have begun to study the role of DC in the response to influenza virus infection in mice, in collaboration with other groups at the CVR. We will soon extend these studies into H5N1 influenza virus infection in nonhu-man primates, which is a highly relevant model of influenza in humans. Our interest is to determine the dynamics of the DC response and to study the interplay between plasmacytoid and myeloid DC in the lung and lymph node in infection. The overall goal is to determine the role DC play in highly pathogenic influenza. This work is funded by a collaborative U01 grant from the National Institutes of Health. Dendritic cells in dengue: A research program we have recently initiated is the study of dengue pathogenesis in humans, in collaboration with other groups at the CVR and the University of Pittsburgh. Our initial focus is on dengue virus infection in human skin and the role of DC in this infection. This work is funded by a collaborative U19 grant from the National Institutes of Health.
For more information, or to schedule a meeting with Dr. Barratt-Boyes, please contact Debbie Couch, 294-4115 or couchd@ufl.edu