Michael Gunn
Professor of Medicine
Overview
The focus of my work is on understanding how dendritic cells, monocytes, and macrophages regulate immune responses, contribute to specific disease pathologies, and can be manipulated to stimulate or inhibit specific immune responses. We are also using our knowledge of immunology to develop diagnostics and therapeutics for a variety of human diseases.
Lab History
The lab started with our discovery of the lymphoid chemokines, which regulate the migration of lymphocytes and dendritic cells to and within secondary lymphoid organs. We identified the chemokine (CCL21) that mediates the entry of naïve T cells and activated dendritic cells into lymph nodes and the chemokine (CXCL13) that mediates the entry of B cells into lymphoid follicles. Our focus then shifted to understanding how specific cell types, primarily dendritic cells, and cell migration events regulate immune responses. We identified murine plasmacytoid dendritic cells; the cell type that causes pulmonary immune pathology during influenza infection; the dendritic cell type that stimulates Th1 immune responses; the cell type that induces neuronal injury in Alzheimer's disease, and the macrophage type that stimulates pulmonary hypertension. Our current work continues these basic studies while applying our findings to models of human disease.
Current Research
Tumor immune therapeutics – We have developed a novel cellular vaccine strategy for the treatment of cancer. This strategy is much simpler, more cost effective, more clinically feasible, and much more efficacious than classic dendritic cell vaccines. We are now determining the mechanisms by which this vaccine induces such potent immune responses and advancing it to initial human clinical trials.
Development of recombinant antibodies as diagnostic reagents – Our lab has developed novel methods to generate recombinant single chain antibodies using phage display technology. We are currently using these methods to generate pathogen-specific antibodies for use in diagnostic tests for a variety of human bacterial, viral, and fungal infections. In collaboration with Duke Biomedical Engineering, we are deploying our antibodies in a novel diagnostic assay platform to develop point-of-care assays for the diagnosis of a variety of emerging pathogens. Our recently developed point-of-care assay for Ebola virus displays a sensitivity superior to PCR at a fraction of the per assay cost.
Positions
Professor of Medicine in the School of Medicine
2014 School of Medicine
Professor in Integrative Immunobiology in the School of Medicine
2014 School of Medicine
Associate Professor in Pathology in the School of Medicine
2014 School of Medicine
Member of the Duke Cancer Institute in the School of Medicine
2018 School of Medicine
Education
M.D. 1983
1983 UT Southwestern Medical School
Internship and Residency, Internal Medicine
Parkland Health & Hospital System
Fellowship in Cardiology, Cardiology
University of California - San Francisco
Publications, Grants & Awards
- Grants (29)
- Academics Articles (93)
- Conference Pages (15)
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
National Institutes of Health
North Carolina Biotechnology Center
National Institutes of Health
Department of Defense
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
United States Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Burroughs Wellcome Fund
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
National Institutes of Health
Nature Cancer
Sci Transl Med
Ann N Y Acad Sci
Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol
Nature Communications
J Immunol Methods
Sci Transl Med
J Clin Invest
Nat Rev Cancer
J Am Soc Nephrol
Journal for Immunotherapy of Cancer
Brain Behav Immun
Sci Signal
Am J Physiol Renal Physiol
Cell Stem Cell
J Control Release
Nature Communications
The American Journal of Pathology
Journal of Translational Medicine
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Journal of Neuroscience
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Plos Genetics
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A
Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol
Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol
Behav Pharmacol
The Journal of Immunology
Cell Host Microbe
Nat Immunol
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Journal of Immunological Methods
The Journal of Infectious Diseases
J Mol Biol
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Nature Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
Nature Immunology
Seminars in Immunology
The Journal of Clinical Investigation
The Embo Journal
The American Journal of Pathology
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
Faseb Journal
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Cell Biology
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
The Journal of Experimental Medicine
Current Topics in Microbiology and Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
Nature
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
Journal of Lipid Research
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Physiology
The Journal of Biological Chemistry
American Journal of Physiology Heart and Circulatory Physiology
The American Journal of Physiology
Cancer Research
Frontiers in Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
The Journal of Immunology
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
Hypertension
Journal of Investigative Dermatology
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine
The Journal of Immunology
American Journal of Transplantation : Official Journal of the American Society of Transplantation and the American Society of Transplant Surgeons
Offices & Contact
Durham, NC
27703 Duke Box 102143
Durham, NC
27710