Ira J. Blader PhD

Ira Blader

Ira J. Blader
PhD

Professor

Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences


Specialty/Research Focus

Eukaryotic Pathogenesis; Immunology; Infectious Disease; Microbial Pathogenesis; Microbiology; Molecular Basis of Disease; Signal Transduction; Vision science

Contact Information
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
955 Main Street
Buffalo, New York 14203
Phone: 716-829-5809
iblader@buffalo.edu



Professional Summary:

Toxoplasma gondii is an obligate intracellular parasite that has the unique ability of infecting most nucleated cells in almost all warm-blooded animals. It is one of the most widespread infections in the world: approximately 50 percent of the world‘s population is infected. Luckily, most infected people are asymptomatic; however, in AIDS patients and other immune-compromised individuals, Toxoplasma causes serious and life-threatening disease. Besides its own medical importance, we study Toxoplasma because it represents an ideal model system to study how other related pathogens cause disease. These include Plasmodium, which is the causative agent of malaria that is responsible for millions of deaths worldwide, and Cryptosporidium, which causes another important secondary infection in AIDS patients. Toxoplasma is a great model system because it can easily be grown in vitro, its genome has been sequenced and it can be genetically manipulated.

My research team and I are focused on two different but related questions. First, we want to know how the parasite grows inside of its host cell. One of the important things Toxoplasma must do to grow is hijack host cell pathway and factors. We are using functional genomic assays such as microarrays and genome-wide RNA interference (RNAi) screens to identify these host factors. Identifying them is important because if the parasite cannot use these pathways, the parasite will not grow or cause disease. Thus, these pathways represent novel drug targets. As an example, we discovered that oxygen-regulated transcription factors in the host cell are necessary to support parasite growth. We are currently identifying how these transcription factors function and how the parasite adapts to the various oxygen environments it encounters during its lifecycle.

Second, we want to know how Toxoplasma affects the central nervous system and how anti-Toxoplasma immune responses function in the central nervous system. These questions are important because Toxoplasma primarily causes disease in the brain and retina. Our work has revealed that when Toxoplasma actively grows in the brain (a condition known as toxoplasmic encephalitis), it causes a massive reorganization of inhibitory synapses. These changes inhibit GABAergic synaptic transmission and this inhibition is a major factor in the onset of seizures in infected individuals. A second line of research using an ocular infection model has focused on defining how immune responses in the central nervous system are generated by Toxoplasma and then resolved once the infection is under control.

Education and Training:

  • Fellowship, Postdoctoral Fellow, Stanford University (2003)
  • PhD, Cell Biology, University at Alabama at Birmingham (1999)
  • BS, Biochemistry, Virginia Tech, Cum Laude (1993)

Employment:

  • Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, Jacobs School of Medicine & Biomedical Sciences (2016-present)
  • Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, University at Buffalo (2013–2016)
  • Associate Professor, Microbiology and Immunology, University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (2003–2013)
  • Post Doctoral Fellow, Microbiology and Immunology, Stanford University (1999–2003)

Awards and Honors:

  • UB Exceptional Scholar: Sustained Achievement Award 2020 (2020)

Research Expertise:

  • Drug target discovery: Parasites
  • Molecular parasitology: Molecular Parasitology of Toxoplasmosis, host-pathogen interaction, oxygen sensing, cellular signaling,
  • Neuroimmunology: Impact of infections on function and structure of the nervous system

Grants and Sponsored Research:

  • July 2022–June 2027
    Protist Oxygen Sensing in Human Disease
    NIH/NIAID
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
    $3,190,179
  • January 2020–December 2024
    The Organization and Function of the Toxoplasma Daughter Cell Scaffold
    NIH
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • May 2022–April 2024
    Toxoplasma F-Box Protein Regulation of the Apicoplast
    NIH/NIAID
    Role: Principal Investigator
    $438,625
  • April 2020–March 2022
    Identification of F-Box Proteins in Toxoplasma
    NIH
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • April 2006–January 2022
    Control of Toxoplasma gondii Growth by the Host Cell Transcription Factor HIF1
    NIH/NIAID
    Role: Co-Investigator
  • February 2016–January 2021
    TOXOPLASMA GONDII REGULATION OF HOST GABAERGIC SIGNALING
    NIH/NIAID
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • January 2015–May 2019
    GLYCOREGULATION OF SKP1 IN THE CYTOPLASM AND NUCLEUS
    NIH/NIGMS
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
  • February 2015–January 2017
    Oxygen Sensing by the AIDS Opportunist Pathogen, Toxoplasma gondii
    NIAID/NIH
    Role: Co-Principal Investigator
    $434,763
  • September 2013–August 2015
    Apicomplexan Drug Target Discovery
    NIH/NIAID
    Role: Principal Investigator

Journal Articles:

See all (35 more)

Presentations:

  • University of New Hampshire (2023)
  • Texas A&M (2023)
  • Washington State University (2023)
  • , FASEB Conference on Microbial Pathogenesis: Mechanisms of Infectious Disease (2023)
  • University of Texas Health Sciences Center (2022)
  • University of Minnesota (2022)

Service Activities:

  • Strategic Planning Group - Education Subcommittee (2022–present)
  • NIH - Innate Immunity and Host Defense; Member (2021–2024)
  • Future of PhD Education at UB; Member (2021–2022)
  • ATC Search Committee (2021)
  • Presidents Review Board; Member (2021–2023)
  • UB Postdoctoral Policy Committee (2020–2021)
  • Director Master's Program in Microbiology and Immunology (2020–present)
  • MD/PHD Admissions Committee; Member (2019–2021)
  • Junior Faculty Mentoring Committee; member (2019–2021)
  • College of Medicine Faculty Mentoring Committee; Member (2019–2021)
  • SUNY Faculty Senate Council Graduate and Research Committee; Member (2016–2019)
  • Director of Graduate Studies; Director (2016–2019)
  • mSphere; Senior Editor; Editorial Board Member (2015–present)
  • AHA; Microbiology;; Chair (2013–2014)
  • Eukaryotic Cell; Editorial Board; Editorial Board Member (2013–2015)
  • NIH; Pathogenic Eukaryotes;; Panel Member (2012–2017)
  • NIH Pathogenic Eukaryotes Study Section, Member 2012; Panel Member (2012–2017)
  • PLoS One Editorial Board Member (2011-Present); Editorial Board Member (2011–present)
  • American Heart Association, Microbial Pathogenesis Study Section Member (2005-2008); Co-chair (2011-2012); Chair (2013-2014); Panel Member (2005–2014)

School News:

In the Media:


Clinical Specialties:

Clinical Offices:

Insurance Accepted:



Contact Information

Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences
955 Main Street
Buffalo, New York 14203
Phone: 716-829-5809
iblader@buffalo.edu