Russell Kempker
Emory University, GA·Medicine & Clinical Research·Early-career
Tuberculosis (TB), caused by the bacterium Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb), is among the leading infectious causes of death worldwide. It can also leave lasting lung damage even after treatment.
- Fields
Medicine & Clinical Research
Microbiology & Immunology
Pharmacology
- Topics
tuberculosis
Mtb
granuloma
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jul 2030
What they work on
- Identify the metabolic and lipid profiles of each region of human necrotic lung granulomas, using MALDI-2 mass spectrometry imaging and laser capture microdissection on surgically removed TB lung tissue.
- Use spatial transcriptomics (gene-activity maps that keep tissue location) and targeted imaging to find disease programs linked to tissue death in necrotic TB granulomas.
- Measure concentrations of newly used drugs for drug-resistant TB inside lung lesions, and use pharmacokinetic modeling to judge whether they reach bacteria-killing levels in all lesion areas.
- Test whether surgically removing Mycobacterium tuberculosis–diseased lung lowers inflammation throughout the body in patients undergoing adjunctive surgery.
- Use enhanced single-cell spatial transcriptomics to compare the immune response associated with different types of lung granulomas in resected TB tissue.
More about the research
Much of that damage happens inside granulomas, which are clusters of immune cells that wall off the bacteria. Some granulomas break down into cavities, where bacteria multiply and antibiotics penetrate poorly. Both projects study a rare group of patients: people with lung TB who have diseased lung tissue surgically removed as part of their treatment. The removed tissue lets the team map inflammation and drug levels directly where the disease is.
Why it matters
These studies could point to host-directed therapies, drugs that calm the body's damaging inflammation rather than attack the bacteria, to limit lung damage during and after TB. Patients with TB, including drug-resistant TB, could benefit if the data help design drug combinations that reach effective levels throughout lung lesions. The work also aims to inform ways to reduce post-TB lung disease, a growing problem in the U.S.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
John Chan
Rutgers University-New Brunswick, NJ·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine how B cells drive lung inflammation in chronic tuberculosis, testing whether they expand CD4+ helper T cells and interferon-gamma responses while suppressing the anti-inflammatory signal IL-10, using B cell-deficient, knockout and transgenic mouse strains.
Sadiya Parveen-Nesson
Louisiana State University, LA·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether blocking glutaminase (GLS1), the enzyme that breaks down glutamine, restores the TB-killing ability of Mtb-infected macrophages, using siRNA knockdown, chemical inhibition and macrophages from macrophage-specific GLS1 knockout mice.
Christina Leigh Stallings
Washington University in St Louis, MO·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how SPTLC2, the rate-limiting enzyme subunit for building sphingolipids, supports maintenance and monocyte-derived repopulation of alveolar macrophages during M. tuberculosis infection, using mice lacking Sptlc2 in CD11c+ lung cells.
The school
Emory University: 70 labs on PI Pages, $1.2B a year on research, 286 research doctorates a year.
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