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$1.86 million NIH Grant Expands Andrew Monteith’s Immunology Research

July 26, 2024 by micro

A nearly $1.86 million National Institutes of Health grant will allow Andrew Monteith to further study how metabolic processes affect the ways certain white blood cells fight pathogens.

The Maximizing Investigators’ Research Award (MIRA) is the first to Monteith, an assistant professor since January 2023 in the Department of Microbiology with a joint appointment to the Department of Biochemistry and Cellular and Molecular Biology.

Monteith’s work centers on neutrophils, the backbone of the innate immune response to infection. Although they possess an arsenal of antimicrobial processes to combat invading pathogens, neutrophils also cause inflammation, requiring a delicate balance to limit tissue damage while clearing pathogens.

“The goal of this proposal is to decipher how metabolic processes feed into regulating neutrophil function (immunometabolism) and to understand how comorbidities like diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune disease render neutrophils less effective at combating infection,” said Monteith.

His previous work showed mitochondria within neutrophils dictate whether they release neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) in response to bacteria. NETosis is the release of a meshwork of the neutrophil’s chromosomal DNA studded with antimicrobial proteins to entrap and kill pathogens, he explained. 

Mitochondria are typically seen as the “powerhouse of the cell,” but neutrophils derive nearly all their energy from other metabolic processes. Monteith proposes that mitochondria in neutrophils evolved to detect metabolic changes and dictate how neutrophils should respond during infection. 

His research program will use cutting-edge technologies like chimeric immune cell editing (CHIME) to link the pathways that dictate how the neutrophils decide when to cast NETs and how diseases like diabetes and lupus interfere with these signals, causing aberrant inflammation.

The MIRA funding extends through June 2029. “I hope my research program can evolve into other areas of neutrophil immunometabolism, including understanding how diabetes, obesity, and autoimmune diseases impact neutrophil formation in the bone marrow (hematopoiesis), neutrophil persistence within tissues and at the sites of infection, and other inflammatory processes,” said Monteith.

Staff in the College of Arts and Sciences’ Office of Research and Creative Activity helped Monteith with the application budget and other documents before and after his proposal was scored.

Monteith’s interest in immune cells began in middle school, when his mother was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, an autoimmune disease.

“As I progressed through my undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral training, I was fascinated by how each immune cell played a very specific role and how they worked together to perform a functional immune response,” he said. “Better than 99 percent of the time, the immune response does its job, but occasionally something breaks and disease happens. I was most interested in understanding the mechanisms of these negative outcomes and strategies to swing the battle back in favor of the immune response.”

Fall 2023: We are Hiring!

September 19, 2023 by micro

Multiple Track and Rank Faculty Positions in Microbiology, Immunology, Plant-Microbe Interactions and Microbial Physiology!!

The Department of Microbiology at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville is seeking candidates for three tenure-track and one lecturer/lab coordinator faculty appointments.  Successful candidates are anticipated to start these positions August 1, 2024. UTK is a land-grant university and values engaged forms of research/scholarship/creative activity, teaching and service and considers evidence of these commitments in the records of applicants.

Position 1. We seek candidates at the rank of Associate or Full Professor (9-month, tenure-track) researching plant-associated microbes using molecular, genetic, biochemical, mathematical modeling and/or cell biology approaches. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Plant-microbe interactions in the context of resilience in agricultural ecosystems and maintaining plant-growth promoting microbes
• Plant-microbe-mediated resistance and mitigation of pathogens
• Mechanistic linkage of plant-microbiome composition, function and crop growth from microscopic to regional scales
• Tritrophic interactions among plants, microorganisms, pollinators, and/or herbivores

Full details available here: http://apply.interfolio.com/131119

Position 2. We seek candidates at the rank of Assistant Professor (9-month, tenure-track) that study host immune responses to microbes using molecular, genetic, biochemical, and/or cell biological approaches. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Host responses to bacteria, fungi, protozoa (parasites), viruses, and/or helminths
• Innate or adaptive immune responses to microbes
• Innovative model systems for host-microbe immune focused interactions, including primary, zoonotic, and opportunistic pathogens or commensal species
• Immune interactions at mucosal surfaces, including lungs, is of particular interest, but any niche will be considered

Full details available here: http://apply.interfolio.com/130937

Position 3. We seek candidates at the rank of Assistant Professor (9-month, tenure-track) in the area of microbial physiology. Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Experimental models that answer the “how” and “why” of microbial systems
• The physiology of microorganisms including bacteria, eukaryotes, and archaea
• The physiological effects of viral infection on microorganisms
• Interactions of microbes with their microbiomes and environments
• Lab model systems that resolve mechanistic links between microbes or microbiomes and their environment

Full details available here: http://apply.interfolio.com/130406

Position 4. We seek candidates for a Lecturer and Instructional Laboratory Coordinator (12-month, non-tenure track). The position is renewable yearly, contingent upon evidence of excellence in teaching and performance of programmatic duties. Principal duties involve (i) teaching an introductory microbiology course and (ii) coordinating the administration of multiple microbiology lab courses (from introductory, non-majors to upper-level majors) each semester. Responsibilities include curricular development as well as mentoring and supervision of laboratory graduate student teaching assistants (GTAs). 

Full details available here: http://apply.interfolio.com/131123

The Department of Microbiology values the quality of life of all its members and is committed to supporting the intercultural goals of the University.  Located in the foothills of the Smoky Mountains, The University of Tennessee Knoxville was founded in 1794 and is one of the oldest public universities in the nation. There are over 30,000 students enrolled at the Knoxville campus, who train and study in a city where excellence in academia meets the natural beauty of the southern Appalachian region and in the company of the artists, makers, and entrepreneurs that call Knoxville their home.

Wilhelm Receives John H. Martin Award for Research

August 3, 2023 by micro

The Association for the Sciences of Limnology and Oceanography (ASLO) presents the John H. Martin Award to one paper each year that has led to fundamental shifts in research focus and interpretation of a large body of previous observations.

The 2021 John H. Martin Award is for “Viruses and nutrient cycles in the sea,” by Steven Wilhelm (University of Tennessee) and Curtis Suttle (University of British Columbia). The award will be presented at the 2021 ASLO Aquatic Sciences Virtual Meeting in June.

Wilhelm and Suttle’s foundational 1999 paper originated the concept of the ‘viral shunt,’ the phenomenon in which viral infection of marine microbes redirects flow of organic matter away from higher trophic levels and through the microbial loop. Drawing on early estimates of viral production in the water column, Wilhelm and Suttle shined a light on the considerable role viruses play in ocean biogeochemical cycles at a time when much of the research was focused on describing viral diversity and distribution. Their calculations showed that a staggering 25% of all photosynthetically fixed carbon, and associated nutrients, in the ocean may be recycled through the viral shunt.

Additionally, Wilhelm and Suttle made some of the first estimates of the total carbon stored in the viral pool and made eye-opening comparisons to the carbon stored in other types of marine organisms (including whales). Today, the concept of the viral shunt continues to influence our understanding of ocean ecosystem functioning and nutrient cycles. With >1000 citations, and more than 300 in the last five years, the legacy of “Viruses and nutrient cycles in the sea” and the viral shunt concept is still strongly felt in the field today.

“Every so often a novel concept is described which truly transforms a scientific field for decades,” says ASLO President Roxane Maranger. “Wilhelm and Suttle’s conception of the ‘viral shunt’ as a major pathway of oceanic carbon and nutrient flow in their 1999 paper is a stunning example of such a transformation.”

Full Citation: Wilhelm, S.W. and C.A. Suttle. 1999. Viruses and nutrient cycles in the sea, BioScience 49(10): 781-788. doi.org/10.2307/1313569.

ASLO is an international aquatic science society that was founded in 1948. For more than 60 years, it has been the leading professional organization for researchers and educators in the field of aquatic science. The purpose of ASLO is to foster a diverse, international scientific community that creates, integrates and communicates knowledge across the full spectrum of aquatic sciences, advances public awareness and education about aquatic resources and research, and promotes scientific stewardship of aquatic resources for the public interest. Its products and activities are directed toward these ends. With more than 3,800 members worldwide, the society has earned an outstanding reputation and is best known for its journals, interdisciplinary meetings, and special symposia. For more information about ASLO, please visit our website at www.ASLO.org.