Director of the WSU Monoclonal Antibody Center and the Flow Cytometry Facility. The overall program in immunology is focused on analysis of the mechanisms regulating the immune response to infectious agents and derived vaccines. Ongoing studies are focused on: 1) Development and characterization of monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) to leukocyte differentiation molecules, cytokines, chemokines, and respective receptors involved in activation and maturation of naïve T- and B-lymphocytes and antigen presenting cells. Characterization of new mAbs involves the use of flow cytometry, molecular techniques, and a web-based taxonomic key program (TKP) http://vetmed,esu.edu/tkp . The TKP program is designed to facilitate the comparative analysis of the specificity of mAbs specific for known and new leukocyte differentiation molecules. 2) Determining the factors that modulate uptake, processing, and presentation of exogenous antigens on MHC class I and class II molecules by antigen presenting cells (APC). Studies involve the use of in vitro culture techniques and RT-PCR to study APC activation following antigen uptake and flow cytometry to study the phenotypic changes that occur during the evolution of an immune response from naïve T cells to effector and memory T cells. 3) Elucidation of the role of gd T cells in first line of defense in cattle. Current studies are focused on characterizing gd T cell subpopulations in cattle and determining the factors that regulate activation and function of gd T cells. The studies involve the use of flow cytometry to isolate cells for in vitro culture and molecular analysis.

Selected Publications:

1. Baumgartner, M., Chaussepied, M., Moreau M.-F., Werling, D., Davis, W.C., Garcia A., and Langsley, G. Constitutive PI3-K activity is essential for proliferation, but not survival, of Theileria parva-transformed B cells. Cellular Microbiology 2:329-339, 2000.
2. Davis, W.C., Heirman, L.R., Hamilton, M.J., parish, S., Barrington, G.M., Loftis, A., and Rogers, M. Flow cytometric analysis of an immunodeficiency disorder affecting juvenile llamas. Vet. Immunol. Immunpathol. 74:103-120, 2000.
3. Stone, D.M., Norton, L.K., and Davis, W.C. Spontaneously proliferating lymphocytes from bovine leukemia virus-infected, lymphocytotic cattle are not the virus-expressing lymphocytes, as these cells remain in G₀/G¹ of the cell cycle progression and are protected from apoptosis. J. Gen. Virol. 81:971-981, 2000.
4. Daubenberger, C.A., Taracha, E.L.N., Gaidulis, L., Davis, W.C., and McKeever, D.J.  Bovine gd T cell responses to the intracellular protozoan parasite Theileria parva.  Infect. Immun. 67:2241-2249, 1999.
5. Smith, R.A., Kreeger, J.M., Alvarez, A., Goin, J.C., Davis, W.C., Whipple, D.L., and Estes, D.M. Role of CD8+ and WC1+ gd T cells in resistance to Mycobacterium bovis infection in the SCID-bo mouse. J. Leuk. Biol. 65:28-34, 1999.
6. Monday, R.S., Vath, G.M., Ferens, W.A., Deobald, C., Rago, J.V., Gahr, P.J., Monie, D.D., Iandolo, J.J., Davis, W.C. Ohlendorf, D.H., Schlievert, P.M., and Bohach, G.A. Unique superantigen activity of staphylococcal exfoliative toxins. J. Immunol. 162:4550-4559, 1999.

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