Huntley, Jason Professor

The Huntley laboratory studies the intracellular pathogen Francisella tularensis. Projects in the lab are focused on identifying bacterial virulence factors, examining how the bacteria bind to and invade host cells, analyzing changes in expression profiles inside host cells, surveying the host immune responses to infection, and understanding environmental persistence and transmission by infected ticks.



Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent of tularemia, is a Gram-negative intracellular bacterium that causes rapid, fatal disease in a number of mammalian species, including humans. F. tularensis is well-recognized as one of the most dangerous bacterial pathogens known because of its low infectious dose (< 10 organisms), ease of aerosolization, multiple routes of infection, and ability to induce severe disease and death. For these reasons, F. tularensis has been has been designated as a Tier 1 Select Agent, indicating its potential use as a bioweapon. One working hypothesis of the lab is that F. tularensis outer membrane proteins (OMPs) and envelope proteins, because of their surface localization, are involved in infection and disease. The second working hypothesis is that F. tularensis OMPs and envelope proteins, because of their surface localization, are ideal vaccine candidates. Research projects in the Huntley laboratory are focused on: (1) Identifying F. tularensis OMPs up-regulated during mammalian infection; (2) Assessing OMP- and envelope protein-deficient F. tularensis mutants during in vitro and in vivo infections to confirm the roles of OMPs/envelope proteins as virulence factors; (3) Characterizing the function of individual OMPs and envelope proteins; (4) Developing and testing new vaccine formulations that prevent tularemia; (5) Defining immune responses that protect against F. tularensis infection; (6) Studying F. tularensis infection of, persistence in, and transmission by different tick vectors. These projects are designed to answer fundamental questions about F. tularensis virulence and have practical applications for the development of safe, efficacious vaccines to prevent F. tularensis infection and disease.



The Huntley lab also is working to develop new methods to remove and degrade harmful algal bloom (HAB) microcystin toxins from drinking water. The lab has enriched for and isolated microcystin toxin degrading bacteria from Lake Erie and has shown that these bacteria degrade microcystin into non-toxic breakdown products. Current projects include: (1) Use of these microcystin degrading bacteria in biologically-active water filters (i.e., biofilters) to purify drinking water; (2) Genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics to identify microcystin degrading enzymes for water treatment applications. These microcystin degradation projects have global relevance as HABs occur worldwide and foul drinking water supplies.