Specialty:

Research Interests

The major goal of Dr. Kolls' research is to investigate mechanisms of lung host defenses in normal and immunocompromised hosts. Presently, he is investigating how IL-23 and IL-17 regulate neutrophil recruitment in response to infectious stimuli in the lung. To this end, he studies cellular sources of IL-17A, IL-17F, and IL-22 in the lung and liver as well as their signaling in response to pulmonary infection or hepatitis.

Dr. Kolls also has a long standing interest to determine if Th17 cells and their cytokine products contribute to airway destruction in cystic fibrosis. He also has a long-standing interest in understanding cytokine biology in the lung through over-expression or dominant negative inhibitor strategies using somatic gene transfer. In these studies, he has identified that sub-populations of CD8+ T-cells polarized in vivo via cytokine gene transfer have effector activity against P. carinii.

Dr. Kolls is presently using gene expression profiling and proteomics to define this effector activity. He also has a program in developing CD4-independent vaccination against AIDS-related opportunistic infections.

• T cells in P. carinii Pneumonia
• Non-CD4 Host Defense against P. carinii Pneumonia
• Host Defense Against HIV-related Pulmonary Infections
• Th17 Cytokines and Lung Host Defense
• Host Factors in Fungal Allergy and Fibrosis
• Project Leader, Alcohol Research Center, Project 3
• Alcohol, ROS, and Macrophage Epigenetics
• Novel Macrolide Th17 Inhibitors
• Development of a novel PCP Vaccine for AIDS patients