Wendy Brown
Regents
professor in the Department of Veterinary
Microbiology and Pathology, Dr. Brown is recognized
nationally and internationally for her research on T
lymphocyte responses to tick-borne pathogens of
cattle and for the use of T lymphocytes to identify
promising vaccine antigens. T lymphocytes give
animals and humans immunological memory, enabling
them to thwart infectious agents that they have
previously encountered. They are critically
important in neutralizing pathogens, killing
microbes, and for directly killing pathogen-infected
cells.
Dr. Brown received the
Distinguished International Veterinary Immunologist
Award in 2004 from the International Union of
Immunological Societies. Granted every three years,
the award recognizes the best veterinary
immunologist in the world during that period.
"Dr. Brown’s acquisition of a major grant from NIH
in today’s funding climate documents the
international regard for her world-class leadership
in animal infectious disease research,” said David
Prieur, professor and chair of the WSU Department of
Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology, in which Dr.
Brown is a professor.
The two tick-transmitted pathogens Dr. Brown
studies most closely are Babesia bovis, a
parasite, and Anaplasma marginale, a
bacterium. Both organisms cause anemia and
persistent infection in cattle. The antigens that
Dr. Brown has identified for cattle pathogens may be
useful for developing vaccines against human
pathogens as well.
Dr. Brown recently developed a method for rapidly
screening pathogen proteins for their ability to
prompt an immune response in a host. The method can
help researchers working on any infectious disease
quickly identify proteins that are good candidates
for a vaccine against the disease.
Dr. Brown is now putting her extensive expertise
to work to help the EQUID research team identify
protective immune responses against important
infectious diseases of horses, and to develop
effective vaccines against those diseases.
Dr. Brown's Web site
