Scientist and Professor

The research in my laboratory is centered in two major areas:

1. Investigation of the role of the CD11d integrin in leukocyte biology and inflammation of the central nervous. Through the use of various techniques my laboratory is defining the phenotype and function of different monocyte subsets that infiltrate the central nervous system following traumatic injury. In addition the laboratory is involved in developing a novel anti-inflammatory treatment for spinal cord injury that involves blocking leukocytes from infiltrating the site of injury from the blood.

2. The development of novel vaccine approaches for HIV and cancer. The current emphasis is in developing dendritic cell-based therapeutic vaccines. The laboratory is also developing a means to track dendritic cell in vivo in real time using magnetic resonance imaging.

Recent Publications:

Su, J., Willert, C., Comanita, L., Peters, A., Gilbert, P.A., O’Connell, P.J., McFadden, G., Dekaban, G.A. Inclusion of the Viral Anti-apoptotic molecule M11L in DNA Vaccine Vectors enhances HIV-Env-specific T Cell-mediated Immunity. Virology, 375/1: 48-58, 2008.

Wang, F., Gao, X., Barrett, J.W., Shao, Q., Bartee, E., Mohamed, M.R., Rahman, M., Werden, S., Irvine, T., Cao, J., Dekaban, G.A., and McFadden, G. RIG-I mediates the co-induction of tumor necrosis factor and interferon elicited by myxoma virus in primary human macrophages. PLoS Pathogens, 4(7): PMID: 18617992, 2008.

Bao, F., Bailey, C.S., Gurr, K.R., Bailey, S.I., Rosas-Arellano, M.P., Dekaban, G.A., and Weaver, L.C. Increased oxidative activity in human blood neutrophils and monocytes after spinal cord injury. Experimental Neurology 2009 215: 308-316. epub 2008/11/13

Dekaban, G.A., Snir, J., Shrum, B., de Chickera, S., Willert, C., Said E.A., Sékaly, R.P., Foster, P.J., O’Connell, P.J. Semi-quantitation of mouse dendritic cell migration in vivo using cellular MRI. J. Immunotherapy, 32: 240-251 (2009) PMID: 19242346.