Brian Rudd

Contact Info:
brudd@umich.edu
lab phone: 734-936-1020

Mentor:
Nick Lukacs 

Undergraduate Information:
BS Health Sciences
James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA

MPH Epidemiology
University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Research Interests:

The initiation of immune responses to viruses is dependent upon the early innate immune responses to recognize the presence of foreign pathogens. It has been established that the innate immune system can partially manage this task utilizing pattern recognition receptor systems, called toll-like receptors (TLRs), to generally identify certain classes of foreign pathogens. TLRs have been conserved evolutionarily to allow innate immunity to respond rapidly and appropriately to microbial infections when triggered by motifs found only in pathogens and products of their infection. To date, 11 members of the toll-like receptor family have been described and respond to ligands such as bacterial lipopolysacharide (TLR4), bacterial flagelin (TLR5), and viral dsRNA (TLR3). Production of dsRNA is a necessary step for RSV to replicate within the infected cell and may be used by hosts to identify invasion of the virus and activate various cell populations. We believe the recognition of RSV by TLR3, which specifically recognizes dsRNA, is critically linked to the induction of innate immunity and establishment of adaptive immune responses. My studies are focused on determining the role of TLR3 in various cell types and in a murine model of RSV disease.

Publications:

Rudd BD, Burstein E, Duckett CS, Li X, Lukacs NW. Differential role for TLR3 in respiratory syncytial virus-induced chemokine expression. J Virol. 2005 Mar; 79(6):3350-7.