Alexander Persson

PhD - Post Doctoral Fellow, Dr. David Speert's Laboratory

Alex is a fly fishing Swede who joined David's lab as a Post-doc in 2010.

Brief overview of the present research:

Mycobacterium tuberculosis is one of the most devastating human pathogens leading to 2 million deaths annually. Traditionally, M. tuberculosis research is focused on bacterial virulence mechanisms and immune evasion strategies but this approach does not take advantage of the fact that only 10% of infected individuals become ill indicating that most people are capable of mounting a successful immune response for control of the pathogen. I focus on immunological mechanisms in play during a successful immune response to M. tuberculosis to delineate the events taking place in the healthy human immune response.

The overall aim of my research is to discern how specific elements of macrophage cellular response contribute to an effective immune response to M. tuberculosis infections, thereby preventing active disease.

Specific aims:

I. To determine how human SP110 regulates cell death patterns crucial for effective innate immunity to M. tuberculosis.

II. To determine the importance of polarization of macrophage phenotype for an effective and immediate innate immune response to M. tuberculosis infections.

Laboratory Members

• Maureen Campbell - Lab Manager
• Deborah Henry - Technician
• Trevor Hird - Technician
• Tracy Lee - Technician
• Agatha Jassem - PhD student
• Rossi Billie Velapatino - PhD student
• Kelly MacDonald, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
• James Zlosnik, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
• Rebecca Malott, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
• Alexander Persson, PhD - Postdoctoral Fellow
• Allison McDonald - Master's student
• Allison Nicholls - Master's student

Visiting Students

• Brad Locke - Medical student
• Lourdes (Cynthia) Gunaratnam- Directed Studies student
• Connor Forbes - CFRI student
• George Hall - Volunteer

Hedlund S, Persson A, Vujic A, Che K, Stendahl O, Larsson M: Dendritic cell activation by sensing Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced apoptotic neutrophils via DC-SIGN. Hum Immunol 2010, 71(6):535-540.

Verma D, Eriksson P, Sahdo B, Persson A, Ejdebäck M, Särndahl E, Söderkvist P: Two adult siblings with atypical cryopyrin-associated periodic syndrome due to a novel M299V mutation in NLRP3. Arthritis Rheum 2010, 62(7):2138-2143.

Persson A, Blomgran-Julinder R, Eklund D, Lundstrom C, Stendahl O: Induction of apoptosis in human neutrophils by Mycobacterium tuberculosis is dependent on mature bacterial lipoproteins. Microb Pathog 2009, 47(3):143-150.

Persson A, Blomgran-Julinder R, Rahman S, Zheng L, Stendahl O: Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced apoptotic neutrophils trigger a pro-inflammatory response in macrophages through release of heat shock protein 72, acting in synergy with the bacteria. Microbes Infect 2008, 10(3):233-240.