November 2023
Lindsay defending her PhD!
She is Kenough
This was an exciting month with Lindsay Sidak-Loftis successfully defending her dissertation! (titled “Unraveling arthropod immunity: Investigating the unfolded protein response as an initiator of the immune deficiency pathway in Ixodes scapularis ticks”)! Lindsay is the first PhD student out of the Shaw lab and we are super proud of all of her accomplishments!! Congrats, Lindsay!
We also had some conference travel here in the PNW!
Kaylee Vosbigian presented a poster at the CVM Research Symposium on titled “Pathogen persistence in ticks is supported by ATF6 and Nrf2 gene regulation”
Kaylee Vosbigian and Sarah Wright traveled to Portland, OR on for the American Society of Microbiology Northwestern Branch Meeting to present posters on their research.
October 2023
This has been a busy Fall semester with lots of conference presentations and awards!
Shaw lab Halloween party!
Elis Fisk traveled to Chicago, IL for the annual ACVP meeting to present his poster titled “Forbidden snack: C57BL/6 mice as a model for acquired resistance to Ixodes scapularis”
Elis was also the recipient of the 2023 Davis-Thompson Foundation Pathology Trainee Scholarship Award, which goes to trainees who have demonstrated superior scholarship, exceptional diagnostic skills, mentorship, leadership, in addition to talent and enthusiasm for teaching - congrats, Elis!
Kaylee Vosbigian was the recipient of the 2023 Excellence in Research Award, which celebrates students with exceptional contributions to the scientific community and who have prioritized mentorship and collaboration within VMP - congrats, Kaylee!
Dana traveled to the University of Nebraska Medical Center on Oct. 10-11 for an invited research talk titled “Tick immunity vs. pathogen persistence: the molecular tug of war that shapes vector competence” and was also the recipient of WSU’s 2023 Pacesetter Award!
September 2023
The Fall semester has started and we have new faces in the lab! Alyssa Maine, a first-year IID PhD student, and Cierra Grove, an undergraduate Genetics and Cell Biology MARC Scholar, are joining us for rotations - welcome Alyssa and Cierra!
Dana traveled to Iowa City, IA to visit the University of Iowa College of Medicine and old friend from grad school, Mary Weber, PhD. She presented a seminar titled “From stress to defense: unraveling the UPR’s role in tick immunity and vector competency” and had an excellent time visiting with Mary and the University of Iowa folks!
The lab’s most recent story is now available on mSphere and was chosen as the Editor’s pick!
In this story, we address what sorts of elements allow tick-borne pathogens to survive in ticks. We know that tick immune responses produce molecules that restrict transmissible pathogens like Borrelia and Anaplasma. So how are these microbes persisting in ticks?
We found that the PERK-eIF2α-ATF4 pathway is induced in infected Ixodes ticks, which leads to an Nrf2-driven antioxidant response. Activity of this pathway supports microbial persistence by detoxifying reactive oxygen and nitrogen species.
Overall, these results highlight the mechanistic push and pull between arthropod immunity and pathogen persistence in ticks!
Lindsay, Dana, and Kaylee at the summit in Snowbird, UT
July 2023
July was a busy month for the Shaw lab- more conference travel and presentations and Elis passed his prelims! PLUS, our newest manuscript was accepted to mSphere and will be out soon (for now, is available on BioRxiv)!
The American Society for Rickettsiology was held in Snowbird Utah July 8-11, and was well attended by WSU.
WSU was well-represented at ASR in Snowbird, UT this year!
Kaylee gave an invited oral presentation titled “Stressed for success: How the Unfolded Protein Response in Ixodes scapularis intertwines with pathogen survival”.
Lindsay presented a poster titled “Unfolding vector immunity and advancing research tools for Ixodes scapularis”.
Dana presented a poster titled “PERK-mediated antioxidant response is key for pathogen persistence in ticks”.
June 2023
Lots of conference travel and presentations this month for the Shaw lab!
Elis’ prelim presentation - July 2023
Dana traveled to The Endoplasmic Reticulum (ER) Conference: Structure, Function and Disease Research Conference (FASEB) in Melbourne, FL on June 11-15 for an invited presentation titled “How stress responses and immunity intertwine to regulate vector competence of ticks”.
Lindsay and Dana traveled to The American Society for Microbiology 2023 meeting in Houston, TX June 15-18.
Lindsay gave an invited presentation titled “Shaping the understanding of the Unfolded Protein Response and Vector Competency in Ixodes scapularis”.
Dana was invited to talk about “How stress responses and immunity intertwine to regulate vector competence of ticks”. However, laryngitis prevented her from presenting, so Lindsay presented in her place and did a fantastic job!
Lindsay traveled to Roscoff (Bretagne), France for the Insect Models for Infection Biology meeting June 26-30 for a poster presentation and a Flash Talk titled “Unfolding vector immunity and advancing research tools for Ixodes scapularis”.
May 2023
BIG congrats to Sarah Wright for graduating from WSU this month! Lucky for us, Sarah will be staying on a Research Intern in the Shaw Lab and we are very happy to have her.
On May 17, Dana gave an invited talk titled “Tick-pathogen interactions: stress responses intersect with arthropod immunity to regulate vector competence” at the NIH NIAID workshop, Understanding Immune Evasion in Tickborne Diseases.
April 2023
Elis Fisk and Kaylee Vosbigian presented posters on April 7 at Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem Annual Research Symposium in Moscow, ID. Elis’ poster was titled “Acquired Resistance to larval Ixodes scapularis in Mus musculus" and Kaylee presented her work on “Dissecting the Unfolded Protein Response gene regulatory network in Ixodes scapularis during infection”.
Kaylee also presented a poster on April 13 titled “Stressed for success: How the Unfolded Protein Response in Ixodes scapularis intertwines with pathogen survival” at WSU’s Biotech Research Symposium.
Lindsay Sidak-Loftis and Kaylee Vosbigian were the recipients of two of the 2023 WSU College of Veterinary Medicine awards. Lindsay was awarded the Dr. John R. Gorham Fellowship and Kaylee recieved the Ronald J. and Sheila S. Pera Endowed Scholarship. Congrats to both Lindsay and Kaylee - these were well-deserved!!
Elis and Kaylee presenting at the Institute for Health in the Human Ecosystem Annual Research Symposium in Moscow, ID
February 2023
Elis at the Keystone Vector Biology: Emerging Concepts and Novel Technologies meeting in Breckenridge, CO.
Elis Fisk and Dana traveled to Breckenridge, CO for the Keystone Symposia Vector Biology: Emerging Concepts and Novel Technologies on Feb. 13-16 where Elis presented his research poster titled “Acquired resistance to larval Ixodes scapularis in Mus musculus”.
Big welcome to our two newest lab members!
Cameron Coyle is a PhD student in the IID program
Sarah Wright is a senior Microbiology major at WSU
Kaylee and Lindsay at the ASM Northwest Branch Meeting in Spokane, WA.
November 2022
Lindsay wins 1st place for the Graduate Student Poster Award at the WSU CVM Research Symposium.
Lindsay Sidak-Loftis and Kaylee (Andrews) Vosbigian traveled to Spokane, WA on Nov. 4-5 and presented research posters at American Society for Microbiology Northwest Branch Meeting. Lindsay’s poster was titled “Shaping the understanding of the Unfolded Protein Response and vector competency in Ixodes scapularis” and Kaylee’s poster was titled “Dissecting the Unfolded Protein Response gene regulatory network in Ixodes scapularis during infection”.
Lindsay Sidak-Loftis and Kaylee (Andrews) Vosbigian presented their research posters at the WSU CVM Research Symposium on Nov. 10.
Lindsay Sidak-Loftis won best graduate student poster presentation at both the American Society for Microbiology Northwest Branch Meeting and the WSU CVM Research Symposium.
Dana traveled to Milwaukee, WI on Nov. 7-9 for an invited seminar at The Medical College of Wisconsin and had an excellent time visiting with the faculty, students, and hosts Drs. Jenifer Coburn and Michelle Riehle. The title of her talk was “Tick talk: how stress responses intersect with immunity to regulate vector competence”.
Dana was awarded the Dean’s Outstanding Junior Faculty Research Award at the WSU CVM Research Symposium.
October 2022
Dana Shaw, Jon Oatley, and Margaret Wild at the WSU CVM Research Symposium.
Big congrats to Lindsay Sidak-Loftis was awarded the Kraft Graduate Student Scholarship in October!
Dana had an awesome time visiting Dr. Laura Levine and our on-campus neighbors in the Department of Entomology on Oct. 10 to give a seminar titled “Stress responses influence vector competency of ticks by eliciting a novel mode of IMD pathway activation”.
Dana was named the next G. Caroline Engle Distinguished Professor. G. Caroline Engle graduated from WSU with her DVM degree in 1967. During her veterinary program at WSU she worked with Professor G. Roger Spencer. Based upon her very positive relationships with the infectious diseases program personnel over many years at the WSU CVM, Caroline established the Caroline Engle Distinguished Professorship in Research on Infectious Diseases. She provided guidance in that she wanted her gifts to promote the infectious diseases research programs of VMP.
Charles Ugwu, 1st year PhD student in School of Molecular Biosciences, is rotating with us this Fall for the next 8 weeks - welcome!
September 2022
The Fall semester has started and we have some updates!
Big congrats to Elis Fisk, who was awarded an NIH T32 post-doctoral training scholarship in Infectious Diseases and Microbial Immunology!
Nice write up about Elis can be found here: Infectious disease and immunology fellow to continue research into tick disease
We have also had several new people in the lab this month- Welcome!:
Kaylee (Andrews) Vosbigian, a PhD student in the IID program
Lizzy Ramirez-Zepp, an ESTEEMED MIRA undergraduate scholar
Cameron Coyle, a rotation PhD student in the IID program
WSU Insider wrote a nice feature highlight about our group and our recent mBio publication:
July 2022
July came with some exciting news:
Our story “The Unfolded-Protein Response Triggers the Arthropod Immune Deficiency Pathway” is now published in mBio and available to read online!
At the start of the month, we received news that our R01 application was funded through NIAID! This project is entitled “Tick-Pathogen Interactions: Exploring the Intersection between Stress Responses and Immunity” and builds on the findings reported in our mBio story. We are so excited to have the opportunity to continue investigating how stress responses impact tick immunity and vector competence!
Lindsay presenting her poster at ASR!
June 2022
June was a busy month for the Shaw Lab!
Lindsay wins an ASR travel award!
Dana traveled to South Bend, IN for the Arthropod Genomics Symposium held at Notre Dame University from June 9-11. She gave a presentation titled “Stress responses elicit a noncanonical mode of IMD pathway activation in ticks” and got wonderful feedback from colleagues!
Dana and Lindsay both traveled to Greenville, SC June 24-28 for the American Society in Rickettsiology meeting. Dana gave a talk titled “Arthropod vectors: More than mobile syringes” and Lindsay did a wonderful job presenting her poster titled “Shaping the understanding of the Unfolded Protein Response and Vector Competency in Ixodes scapularis”. While there, Lindsay was awarded an ASR travel award - congrats Lindsay!
Lastly, the lab’s very FIRST research paper was accepted for publication in mBio! This is also Lindsay’s first, first-author publication from our lab - congrats Lindsay!! Stay tuned for the mBio link…
A much deserved celebration after talks and poster presentations were over at ASR!
It was great seeing our colleagues again in-person for the first time in several years. Looking forward to more hang outs with our science peeps!
May 2022
We have many things to celebrate this month in the Shaw lab!
Lindsay Sidak-Loftis was selected as a 2022-2023 Poncin Fellow! This award is intended to aid worthy and ambitious young people who are engaged in biomedical research at any recognized institution of learning within the State of Washington. This is a well-deserved recognition of Lindsay’s research accomplishments and potential. Congratulations, Lindsay!
Ashley Warren is joining us as the newest Shaw lab member! Ashley comes to us with a DVM from Cornell University and is now an IID graduate student in the combined Residency/PhD program. Welcome, Ashley!
Ashley is also the winner of the Design a Better Pathogen competition this year! Ashley’s pathogen, Balamuthia millennii, is the causative agent of Millennial Encephalic Amoebiasis and is transmitted through contaminated avocados. A secreted effector molecule, KaREN, causes behavioral changes resulting in symptoms such as an affinity for brunch and avocado toast.
The Design a Better Pathogen competition is the final project of the IID program course, Mechanisms of Disease. This is an exercise where students will dream up a satirical pathogen and give a 10 min. presentation to the department that introduces the microbe and describes mechanisms that cause the associated disease. At the end presenters then field questions from the audience. Congrats to Ashley on a well-deserved win!
April 2022
This spring Ashley Warren, one of VMP’s new combined Residency/PhD students, will be rotating with us - welcome, Ashley!
November 2021
Congratulations to Joanna Hurtado on a successful M.S. thesis defense! “The PERKs of Stress: Characterizing the Role of the PERK-eIF2α Pathway in Tick-Pathogen Interactions”.
October 2021
Shifath Bin Syed, one of IID’s 1st year PhD students, will be rotating through our lab for the next 8 weeks- welcome!
September 2021
Our new story is now up on BioRxiv! “The unfolded protein response triggers the ancestral immune deficiency pathway”
In it, we expand on a previous observation that the tick genome does not have genes encoding crucial IMD pathway initiators such as IMD or transmembrane PGRPs… so how does the pathway function then?
Collaboration and crosstalk! Turns out a cellular stress response network, the UPR, initiates the IMD pathway in ticks. Stress response pathways are ancient networks that respond to environmental stressors - including infection! Pathogens can cause stress to host cells by parasitizing nutrients and in some cases also causing physical damage.
We found that IRE1α pairs with TRAF2 to induce antimicrobial defenses, including IMD pathway antimicrobial peptides and reactive oxygen species. Through in vitro, ex vivo and in vivo approaches, we show that disabling this pathway leads to increased Borrelia burgdorferi and Anaplasma phagocytophilum burdens in Ixodes scapularis ticks. AND that this interaction occurs in multiple tick species as well as Drosophila! This suggests that UPR-IMD pathway crosstalk was present in a common ancestor to insects and arachnids, and likely an ancient mode of host defense against infection!
August 2021
The Fall semester has started and 1st year Immunology and Infectious Disease PhD student, Kaylee Andrews, will be joining us for her first rotation - welcome!
This month an Opinion article authored by Dana and two collaborators, Jason Park and Adela Oliva Chavez, was accepted into Frontiers in Cellular Infection and Microbiology. In it, we talk about the arthropod-side of tick-borne disease as an area that needs more research focus including 1) Barriers within the tick that pathogens must overcome, 2) Tick-pathogen interactions and microbial manipulation of the tick, and 3) How tick saliva content contributes to pathogen transmission dynamics. Check it out here Ticks: More than just a pathogen delivery service.
Lindsay presenting her 3 Minute Thesis at the digital iPBS recruitment weekend this year.
January 2021
Congrats to Lindsay Sidak-Loftis was this year’s winner of the WSU College of Veterinary Medicine’s 3 Minute Thesis competition! For her hard work, Lindsay was awarded a travel award and will advance to the university-wide 3 Minute Thesis competition where she will represent the CVM. Good luck, Lindsay!
December 2020
The Shaw Lab is finishing 2020 on a high note! First, Lindsay Sidak-Loftis successfully defended her proposal, passed prelims and advanced to PhD candidacy - congrats, Lindsay!
Second, the lab’s first manuscript was accepted to Frontiers in Immunology! Our Perspective, titled “Arthropods Under Pressure: Stress Responses and Immunity at the Pathogen-Vector Interface”, will be published as part of the Research Topic “Ticks and Host Immunity – New Strategies for Controlling Ticks and Tick-Borne Pathogens”. In it we describe two well-characterized and evolutionarily conserved mechanisms, the Unfolded Protein Response (UPR) and the Integrated Stress Response (ISR), and examine evidence that these stress responses impact immune signaling. We then describe evidence that vector-borne microbes interface with stress responses in mammals. Owing to the well-conserved nature of the UPR and ISR, we speculate that similar mechanisms may be occurring in arthropod vectors and ultimately impacting vector competence. We conclude by positing that novel insights into vector competence will emerge when considering that stress-signaling pathways may be influencing the arthropod immune network.
Kristin wins the 2020 WSU CVM Staff Excellence Award! Award ceremony linked here.
Click here to check it out!
November 2020
This month there are two new scientists in the lab! Katy Cui is a 1st year DVM student with an interest in research. Elise Hennessy is a combined Residency/PhD student in the IID program that will be rotating with us for the next few weeks. Welcome, Katy and Elise!
In other news this month, Lindsay Sidak-Loftis was the recipient of the Fowler Emerging Diseases Graduate Fellowship! This is a donor-funded scholarship that was generously established by Ron Fowler in the memory of his parents Ralph and Ruth Maree Fowler and is intended for students with research projects in emerging infectious disease. Congrats, Lindsay!
August 2020
Kristin Rosche is the recipient of this year’s WSU College of Veterinary Medicine Staff Excellence Award! And it is well deserved - congrats, Kristin!
July 2020
Starting July 17, Dana and Kelly Brayton will be hosting the next round of Virtual Vector Biology seminars! This series was launched in the middle of the COVID-19 pandemic and has been a great way to communicate and hear about recent findings in the vector biology community. Please join us (attendance is free to all) for the next set of talks that will take place each Friday at 9 AM Pacific Time!
June 2020
It has been a turbulent semester with the many changes that are occurring in the world. This June marks the first month that the Shaw Lab is able to return to the bench since March (with appropriate social distancing and cloth face masks, of course). Through all of this, we are committed to supporting our Black colleagues and People of Color by continuing to listen and educate ourselves.
We also have some news to celebrate, with Sarah completing her degrees in Cell Biology & Genetics and Microbiology! She has accepted a job offer with IEH Laboratories– congratulations and best of luck, Sarah!
February 2020
This month Joanna Hurtado finished and defended her 1st proposal, a requirement of the SMB graduate program - congrats, Joanna!
November 2019
Lindsay, Joanna and Dana attended the American Society of Microbiology Northwest Branch Meeting in Seattle, WA. Dana gave a talk titled “Under Pressure: Stress and Immunity at the Pathogen-Vector Interface”. Lindsay presented a poster titled “The Unfolded Protein Response Affects Colonization of Two Distinct Pathogens Transmitted by Ticks” and was the recipient of both a Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology Travel Award and WSU’s Graduate and Professional Student Travel Award- congrats, Lindsay!
October 2019
This month Elis Fisk joined us as our newest lab member! Elis is a graduate student in the combined Residency/PhD program. They comes to us with a DVM from Michigan State University and background experience in molecular biology, immunology and laboratory animal care. Welcome to the lab, Elis!
August 2019
The semester has started and Elis Fisk, one of VMP’s new combined Residency/PhD students, will be rotating with us this fall. Welcome, Elis!
July 2019
This month we welcomed our newest lab member, graduate student Joanna Hurtado! Joanna is a student in WSU’s Molecular Biosciences program with a background in molecular and cellular biology.
In other news, our lab was awarded a College of Veterinary Medicine seed grant to continue our studies on vector competence and the Unfolded Protein Response in ticks! Grateful to be part of this supportive research environment- Go Cougs! 🐾
June 2019
ASR 2019 in Santa Fe, NM
This summer is off to a great (and busy) start! This last June, the Shaw lab attended the week-long, annual American Society for Rickettsiology conference held in Santa Fe, NM as well as the 6-day Biology of Vector-borne Diseases workshop, held at University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. Had a great time interacting with colleagues and hearing about some new science!
May 2019
This month graduate student, Joanna Hurtado, is joining us for a summer rotation! Joanna will be hanging out with us these next few weeks getting to know ticks and Anaplasma. Welcome!
February 2019
This month we welcomed our newest lab members and first Shaw Lab students, Lindsay Sidak-Loftis and Sarah Wisner! Lindsay is a PhD student in WSU’s Immunology and Infectious Disease program and comes to us with an extensive background in genetics and molecular biology. Sarah is an undergraduate student at WSU double majoring in Cell Biology & Genetics and Microbiology. Welcome to the lab, Lindsay and Sarah!
Engorged Ixodes scapularis nymph. Picture courtesy of Brittany O’Keeffe
January 2019
The lab is 1 year old! We have had many highlights including the addition of the first lab member, Kristin Rosche, the opportunity to work with several graduate rotation students and being awarded a generous intramural grant from WSU. We closed out the year with a couple of collaborative publications (linked here and here). All in all, it has been an excellent year and a privilege to work with wonderful colleagues- looking forward to what 2019 brings!
This month starts with graduate student, Lindsay Sidak-Loftis, joining us for her 3rd rotation- welcome!
October 2018
WSU’s campus news paper, The Daily Evergreen, published a nice article featuring research in our lab, “Understanding Disease transmission in ticks”, and Brittany finished up her rotation with some insightful data!
August 2018
Rotation students, Soheila and Shannon, finished up their rotation projects with some great results. Projects will now be passed on to the incoming graduate student, Brittany O’Keeffe, that will be with us for the next round of rotations- welcome!
Credit to Shannon Allen for this super rad Ixodes scapularis cross-stitch