Dr. Tobias Kollmann

CUPIC

Clinician Scientist, CFRI
Assistant Professor, Division of Infectious and Immunological Diseases, Department of Pediatrics, University of British Columbia

We are systematically analyzing the human neonatal and infant response to danger signals (e.g. TLR-ligands) and vaccines. This way we will learn what aspects of the newborn's immune system work well. With that knowledge, we hope to identify immune modulators or vaccine adjuvants that would help protect newborns from disease, and aid in their immune response to vaccines. This work is done in close collaboration with several larger national and international research centers through large clinical trials. Our lab uses state-of-the-art technology to get the most information out of the smallest samples. We also are developing the necessary bioinformatics tools to enable optimal analysis and mining of this complex set of information.

Parallel to the human descriptive studies, we are developing a vaccine platform in animals, where we can test our vaccines and define the exact molecular mechanisms at work. For example, we use genetically altered strains of Listeria monocytogenes to target our vaccines to only those cells we want to infect, to then deliver its vaccine antigen, induce the desired immune response, and disappear - all without causing any harm to the newborn. Our preliminary data gives us great hope that our final goal is within reach.

Laboratory Members

• Dr. Edgardo S. Fortuno III - Research Associate
• Darren Sutherland - Research Assistant
  
• Bing Cai - Research Assistant
  
• Kevin Ho - Research Assistant
  
• Kinga Smolen - Graduate Student
  
• Kathleen Wee - Graduate Student
  

Selected Publications

1. B.A. Reikie, K.K. Smolen, D.I.M. Loeffler, B. Cai, D. Blimkie, E.S. Fortuno III, and T.R. Kollmann. A Single Immunization Near Birth Protects Immediately and For Life. Submitted.

2. T.R. Kollmann, J. Crabtree, A. Rein-Weston, D. Blimkie, F. Thomai, X. Wang, J. Furlong, E.S. Fortuno III, A.M. Hajjar, N. Hawkins, S. Self, C.B. Wilson. The neonatal innate immune system is not less responsive than the adult but responds differently. Submitted

3. K.K. Smolen, D.I.M. Loeffler, L. Aplin, B.A. Reikie, B. Cai, E.S. Fortuno III, and T.R. Kollmann. Neonatal immunization with Listeria monocytogenes induces T cells with an adult-like avidity, sensitivity, and TCR-Vβ repertoire, and does not adversely impact the response to boosting. Submitted.

4. D. Blimkie, E.S. Fortuno III, F. Thommai, L. Xu, E. Fernandes, J. Crabtree, A. Rein-Weston, K. Jansen, C.B. Wilson, R.R. Brinkman and T.R. Kollmann. Identification of B cells through negative gating—an example of the MIFlowCyt standard applied. Submitted.

5. Loeffler DI, Smolen K, Aplin L, Cai B, Kollmann TR.: Fine-tuning the safety and immunogenicity of Listeria monocytogenes-based neonatal vaccine platforms. Vaccine. 2009 Feb 5;27(6):919-27.

6. JA. Lee, J. Spidlen, S.Atwater, K. Boyce, J. Cai, N. Crosbie, M. Dalphin, J. Furlong, M. Gasparetto, M. Goldberg, B. Hyun, K. Jansen, T. Kollmann, M. Kong, D. Lary, R. Leif, S. McWeeney, TD. Moloshok, W. Moore, G. Nolan, J. Nolan, J. Nikolich-Zugich, D. Parrish, J. Price, B. Purcell, Y. Qian, B. Selvaraj, M. Simmerson, C. Smith, O. Tchuvatkina, P. Wilkinson, A. Wertheimer, C. Wilson, RH. Scheuermann, and RR. Brinkman. MIFlowCyt: The Minimum Information about a Flow Cytometry Experiment. Cytometry A, 73:926-930, 2008.

7. Jansen K., D. Blimkie, J. Furlong, A.M. Hajjar, A. Rein-Weston, J. Crabtree, B. Reikie, C.B. Wilson, and T.R. Kollmann. Polychromatic flow cytometric high-throughput assay to analyze the innate immune response to Toll-like receptor stimulation. Journal of Immunological Methods, 336:183, 2008.

8. T.R. Kollmann, B. Reikie, D. Blimkie, S. S. Way, K. Arispe, A. Shaulov, A.M. Hajjar, C.B. Wilson. Induction of Protective Immunity to Listeria monocytogenes in Neonates. Journal of Immunology, 178:3695, 2007.

9. TR Kollmann, SS Way, HL Harowicz, AM Hajjar, CB Wilson. Deficient MHC class I cross-presentation of soluble antigen by murine neonatal dendritic cells. Blood, 103:4240, 2004.