Laboratory of Allergic Diseases

Program Description

The mast cell is the focus of the Mast Cell Biology Section (MCBS) research effort. This multifunctional inflammatory cell is involved in both innate and acquired immunity and plays a central role in the induction of allergic inflammation. An integrated program investigating mast cell biology includes studies into the growth and differentiation of mast cells, mast-cell signal transduction, and the products generated by mast cells that lead to disease. The MCBS program emphasizes basic research that may be translated into the clinic, where protocols include studies on the pathogenesis of urticaria, anaphylaxis, and mastocytosis. Research efforts have contributed to the identification of mutations in clonal mast cell disorders, understanding signaling through KIT and the high affinity IgE receptors, and how alterations in the control of mast cell mediator production affect human disease.

Biography

Dr. Metcalfe received his M.D. at the University of Tennessee and an M.S. in microbiology at the University of Michigan, where he also did a residency in internal medicine. Dr. Metcalfe then trained in allergy and immunology during a fellowship at NIAID, followed by training in rheumatology while a fellow in immunology at the Robert Brigham Hospital in Boston. In 1995, he was appointed as the first chief of the newly created Laboratory of Allergic Diseases at NIAID. He is a past president of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology, and a past chair of the American Board of Allergy and Immunology. Dr. Metcalfe is a Fellow of the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology and a member of the Association of American Physicians, Collegium Internationale Allergologicum, and American Clinical and Climatological Association.

Research Group

Melody Carter, M.D., Staff Clinician
Geethani Bandara, Ph.D., Senior Research Associate
Mi-Yeon Jung, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow
Avanti Desai, M.S., Biologist
Arnold Kirshenbaum, M.D., Special Volunteer
Eunice Chan, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow
Yun Bai, M.S., Senior Research Associate
Daniel Smrz, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow
Alasdair Gilfillan, Ph.D., Staff Scientist
Hirsh Komarow, M.D., Staff Clinician
Todd Wilson, D.O., Clinical Transition Fellow
Dean Metcalfe, M.D., Section Chief
Glenn Cruse, Ph.D., Visiting Fellow

Back row L-R: Alasdair Gilfillan, Daniel Smrz, Dean Metcalfe, Frank Lichtenberger
Front row L-R: Avanti Desai, Geethani Bandara, Mi-Yeon Jung, Nevenka Medic, Glenn Cruse

Selected Publications

Komarow HD, Skinner J, Young M, Gaskins D, Nelson C, Gergen PJ, Metcalfe DD. A study of the use of impulse oscillometry in the evaluation of children with asthma: analysis of lung parameters, order effect, and utility compared with spirometry. Pediatr Pulmonol. 2012 Jan;47(1):18-26.

Smrz D, Kim MS, Zhang S, Mock BA, Smrzova S, DuBois W, Simakova O, Maric I, Wilson TM, Metcalfe DD, Gilfillan AM. mTORC1 and mTORC2 differentially regulate homeostasis of neoplastic and non-neoplastic mast cells. Blood. 2011 Dec 22;118(26):6803-13.

Akin C, Valent P, Metcalfe DD. Mast cell activation syndrome: proposed diagnostic criteria. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2010 Dec;126(6):1099-104.e4.

Metcalfe DD, Peavy RD, Gilfillan AM. Mechanisms of mast cell signaling in anaphylaxis. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2009 Oct;124(4):639-46; quiz 647-8.

Lahortiga I, Akin C, Cools J, Wilson T, Mentens N, Arthur DC, Maric I, Noel P, Kocabas C, Marynen P, Lessin LS, Wlodarska I, Robyn J, Metcalfe DD. Activity of imatinib in systemic mastocytosis with chronic basophilic leukemia and a PRKG2-PDGFRB fusion.Haematologica. 2008 Jan;93(1):49-56. 

Metcalfe DD. Mast cells and mastocytosis. Blood. 2008 Aug 15;112(4):946-56.

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