Dozens of test tubes in a holder

Dr. Scott Walsh's Research Featured in International Innovation

Mon, Oct 10, 2011

Dr. Scott Walsh, Assistant Professor at the University of Maryland Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology Research (IBBR) and Department of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics, is featured in the August issue of International Innovation by Research Media Ltd. in London.  International Innovation is the leading resource for disseminating global communication to the wider scientific, technology and research communities. The August issue highlights Dr. Walsh’s groundbreaking research on signaling pathways that are triggered in T cells, the white blood cells that are essential for cell-mediated immunity.  

Dr. Walsh’s research interests include the specific interactions between cellular proteins, called cytokines, and specific proteins on the cell surfaces, called cytokine receptors. The cytokine-cytokine receptor interactions trigger intercellular communication that determines how an immune cell develops, differentiates, grows, survives and dies. One such cytokine-cytokine receptor interaction that is of particular interest to Dr. Walsh is interleukin-7 (IL-7). IL-7 signaling is essential for the development, proliferation and stability of T cells in the immune system. The IL-7 pathway is of significant medical importance as overstimulation of IL-7 has been implicated in the progression of several autoimmune diseases including rheumatoid conditions, inflammatory bowel disease, host-versus-graft disease, multiple sclerosis, and several cancers. In the International Innovation article, Dr. Walsh discusses his team’s plan to build a structural roadmap of each stage of the binding events along the IL-7 pathway and this understanding could reveal its role in immune disease.

To achieve these research goals, Dr. Walsh actively collaborates with other researchers at IBBR and around the world. The team’s expertise brings together use of structural, biophysical, protein design and engineering tools to better understand the complex IL-7 biology. This synergy has guided the research team to develop novel proteins that will either inhibit or enhance IL-7 signaling mechanisms. Walsh believes that this approach, using the designed IL-7 modulators, will effectively dissect and reveal IL-7 pathways and may ultimately be used as therapeutics in treating IL-7 associated diseases. The work described was funded by NIH – NIAID.