- Board Certified:
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Pediatric Infectious Diseases
- Medical/Professional School:
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University of Minnesota Medical School, Minneapolis
- Residency:
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University of Washington, Seattle, Pediatrics
- Fellowship:
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University of Washington, Seattle, Pediatric Infectious Disease
- Clinical Interests:
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Tuberculosis; Protective immunity against tuberculosis; Tuberculosis vaccines
- Description of Research:
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My laboratory is applying recently-developed immunologic tools to the study of tuberculosis in order to gain a better understanding of T lymphocyte-mediated mechanisms that promote protection against tuberculosis and also mechanisms that suppress immunity and help facilitate persistence of the pathogen. The overall goal of this research is to identify strategies that could contribute to the development of an effective vaccine.
Recently, my laboratory defined a role for a suppressive subset of T lymphocytes that dampens immunity and prevents the immune system from effectively eradicating the bacteria that causes tuberculosis.
- Key Publications:
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Urdahl KB, Pardoll DM, and Jenkins MK. 1992. Self-reactive T cells are present in the peripheral lymphoid tissues of cyclosporin A-treated mice. Int Immunology 4:1341-49.
Urdahl KB, Pardoll DM, and Jenkins MK. 1993. Cyclosporin A inhibits positive selection and delays negative selection in ?? TCR trangenic mice. J Immunol 152:2853-59.
Urdahl KB, Mathews JD, and Currie B. 1996. Anti-streptokinase antibodies and streptokinase resistance in an Aboriginal population in northern Australia. Aust N Z J Med 26:49-53.
Chou TD, Gibran NS, Urdahl K, Lin EY, Heimbach DM, and Engrav LH. 1999. Methemoglobinemia secondary to topical silver nitrate therapy--a case report. Burns 25:549-52.
Shi YP, Nahlen BL, Urdahl KB, McElroy PD, Kariuki S, Roberts JM, and Lal AA. 2001. Fc? receptor IIa (CD32) polymorphism is associated with protection of infants against high density Plasmodium falciparum infection: VII. Asembo Bay Cohort Project. J Infect Dis 184(1):107-11.
Qin X, and Urdahl KB. 2001. PCR and sequencing of independent genetic targets for the diagnosis of culture negative bacterial endocarditis. Diag Micro Infect Dis 40:145-49.
Urdahl KB, Sun JC, and Bevan MJ. 2002. Positive selection of MHC class Ib-restricted CD8+ T cells on hematopoietic cells. Nat. Immunol. 3:772-79.
Urdahl KB, Liggitt D, and Bevan MJ. 2003. CD8+ accumulate in the lungs of Mycobacterium tuberculosis-infected Kb-/-Db-/- mice, but provide minimal protection. J. Immunol 170:1987-94.
Scott-Browne JP, Shafiani S, Tucker Heard, G, Ishida-Tsubota, K, Fontenot JD, Rudensky AY, Bevan MJ, and Urdahl KB. 2007. Expansion and function of Foxp3-expressing T regulatory cells during tuberculosis. J. Exp. Med. 204:2159-69.
Koch MA, Tucker-Heard G, Perdue NR, Killebrew JR, Urdahl KB, Campbell DJ. 2009. T-bet controls regulatory T cell migration and expansion during type-1 inflammatory responses. Nat. Immunol, in press.
- Honors & Awards:
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1993: Bacaner Graduate Medical Research Award, Microbiology (annual award to top Ph.D. graduate)
1995: Visiting Scientist, Menzies School of Health Sciences Research Center, Darwin, Australia
1998: Visiting Scientist, Vector Biology and Control Research Center, Kenya Medical Research Inst., Kisumu, Kenya
1999: Pediatric Scientist Development Program Fellowship
2002: Pediatric Immunology Training Grant Fellowship
2003: Child Health Research Center Scholar
2003: Burroughs Wellcome Career Award in the Biological Sciences