Luis Sigal, DVM, PhD
Professor
Vice Chair, Research
Contact
233 South Tenth Street
Bluemle Life Sciences Building, Room 709
Philadelphia, PA 19107
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Luis Sigal, DVM, PhD
Professor
Vice Chair, Research
Education
Education
DVM - Universidad de Buenos Aires, 1984
PhD - University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 1994
Postdoctoral Training
Dana Farber Cancer Institute/Harvard Medical School, 1997
University of Massachusetts Medical Center, 1999
Most Recent Peer-Reviewed Publications
- The roles of CD4+ T cell help, sex, and dose in the induction of protective CD8+ T cells against a lethal poxvirus by mRNA-LNP vaccines
- Innate and adaptive immune responses that control lymph-borne viruses in the draining lymph node
- mRNA-LNP vaccine-induced CD8+ T cells protect mice from lethal SARS-CoV-2 infection in the absence of specific antibodies
- Dietary L-Tryptophan consumption determines the number of colonic regulatory T cells and susceptibility to colitis via GPR15
- Multiple and Consecutive Genome Editing Using i-GONAD and Breeding Enrichment Facilitates the Production of Genetically Modified Mice
Expertise & Research Interests
Research in my laboratory revolves around viral immunology and pathogenesis. While during my career I have worked and published papers using multiple viruses (foot-and-mouth disease virus, influenza virus, poliovirus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis, vaccinia virus), during the last decade, one of our major interests has been to study the immunobiology and pathogenesis of ectromelia virus (ECTV), the agent of mousepox, the mouse homolog of human smallpox. ECTV is an outstanding model to study acute viral infections as they spread in their biological host following infection through a natural route. Many of of my ECTV papers have been published in high impact journals such as Immunity, Cell Host & Microbe, J. Exp Med, PNAS, PLoS Pathogens, and others. Our papers identified several of the mechanisms whereby various components of the immune response protect from mousepox including Type I and II interferons, NFκB signaling, natural killer cells, CD8 T-cells, helper and cytolytic CD4 T-cells, and B lymphocytes. Some of our papers also addressed the role of viral immune evasion proteins that counteract the immune mechanisms of resistance to viral disease. Recently, my laboratory has also expanded to study the immune response to Zika and other viruses and to exploit viruses to treat ovarian cancer.