Shannon Patrick Hilchey, Ph.D.

My research for the last 17 years has been in the immunobiology of regulatory T cells, T follicular helper cells, and B cell differentiation, in both mice and human subjects. My specific expertise includes developing and applying innovative immunological research methods to study immunobiology in primary human samples, especially normal lymphocytes and lymphomas. My research has included genotypic-phenotypic characterization of lymphocyte cellular subsets by combined transcriptomics and flow cytometry. I have specific expertise in research human B and T cell research where cell numbers are typically limiting. In particular, as the Technical Director of the Lymphoma Lab at the James P. Wilmot Cancer Center from 2004-2013, I have published several key studies using novel T cell functional assays with single cell RNAseq from fine needle aspirate (FNA) lymph node biopsies of lymphoma patients. Over the last 5 years, I have developed my own independent research work, with a focus on multidisciplinary transcriptomic and proteomic analysis of B cell differentiation and migration. This work has evolved from collaborations with Drs. Juilee Thakar and Martin Zand, including an RO1 (R01-AI134058-01A1) in which we propose to characterize and model the molecular mechanisms by which changes in oxygen levels modulate human B cell migration. The work involves defining and modeling how human B cells respond to infection or vaccination upon encountering different oxygen levels as they are activated/differentiate within the developing germinal center of the draining lymph node and migrate from the lymph node (1-5% oxygen) to the peripheral blood (5-13% oxygen) ultimately ending up in the bone marrow (5-7%). These studies will fill a critical gap in our understanding of human B cell responses, specifically the effects differing oxygen levels have on human B cells as they migrate within and from one anatomical compartment to another. We are now extending this work into HIV vaccination. My prior work involved studies directly related to the current proposal, including complex parallel flow cytometry, ELISpot, ELISA, RNAseq, and proteomics analysis. Lastly, throughout my tenure at the University of Rochester, I have successfully collaborated with a number of other researchers and produced several peer-reviewed publications, including publications with Dr. Thakar performing high-resolution proteomics and transcriptomics studies.