Lab News
July 2022
Alex Rapp, a MCB graduate student, participated in the “Reproducible and FAIR Bioinformatics Analysis of Omics Data” at Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory
July 2022
CONGRATULATIONS to Dylan Wang, a MCB graduate student, had his second manuscript published in The Journal of Immunology entitled: “MAVS Expression in Alveolar Macrophages Is Essential for Host Resistance against Aspergillus fumigatus.” This manuscript was also highlight as a “Top Read” for the July 15th issue of The Journal of Immunology.
June 2022
Evan Bennett from Franklin Pierce University joined the laboratory for the summer as part of the Dartmouth College iSURF Program.
May 2022
The Obar Lab represents at Immunology 2022 in Portland, Oregon with both Alex Rapp and Madeleine Grau presenting posters on their work in the lab.
March 2022
CONGRATULATIONS to Madeleine Grau, a MCB graduate student, who successfully obtained a voucher award from the Center for Quantitative Biology at Dartmouth College to start scRNA-Seq analysis in our IAV-Af super-infection model.
December 2021
Marina Kirkland, a MCB graduate student, had her first manuscript published in mSphere entitled: “Host Lung Environment Limits Aspergillus fumigatus Germination through an SskA-Dependent Signaling Response.”
December 2021
Josh was appointed to the Editorial Board at Microbiology Spectrum.
November 2021
Marina Kirkland, a MCB graduate student, successfully defended her Ph.D. thesis entitled: “Aspergillus fumigatus strain-dependent conidia germination in the host pulmonary environment”. She will be joining Dr. Wonder Drake’s laboratory at Vanderbilt University as a postdoctoral fellow.
October 2021
The Obar Lab represents at the 23rd Upstate New York Immunology Conference with both Alex Rapp and Madeleine Grau presenting posters on their work in the lab. Additionally, Ko-wei Liu from Dr. Robert Cramer’s Lab gave an oral presentation, and received an AAI Travel Award, on our collaborative project to develop an influenza-associated pulmonary aspergillosis model.
October 2021
Together Josh Obar and Rebecca Drummond edited the 2021 Host-Fungi Interactions Special Issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology. Here is our editorial overview of the issue, entitled: “Niche-specific and species-specific host-fungal interactions - how do they impact human health?”.
September 2021
Xi (Dylan) Wang, a MCB graduate student, successfully defended his Ph.D. thesis entitled: “Antifungal Properties as the dsRNA Receptor Mda5”. He has accepted a position at Wuxi AppTec as a Scientist.
September 2021
Madeleine Grau, a MCB graduate student, successfully completed her Ph.D. qualifying exam.
August 2021
Josh Obar served as a faculty member at the 2021 Molecular Mycology Course in Woods Hole, Massachusetts. He gave a lecture on the lab’s research entitled: “Vitality sensing during Aspergillus fumigatus infection is necessary for maintaining host resistance.”
July 2021
Alex Rapp, a MCB graduate student, successfully completed his Ph.D. qualifying exam.
July 2021
A collaboration we participated in examining the role of IL-1R1 signaling in neutrophils was published in Frontiers in Immunology. This paper is entitled “The IL-1 Receptor Is Required to Maintain Neutrophil Viability and Function During Aspergillus fumigatus Airway Infection” and was spearheaded by Ben Ralph in Dr. Don Sheppard’s Lab at McGill University.
February 2021
A collaboration we participated in that was designed to set-up a small animal model of allergic bronchopulmonary aspergillosis was published in mSphere. This paper is entitled “Aspergillus fumigatus Strain-Specific Conidia Lung Persistence Causes an Allergic Broncho-Pulmonary Aspergillosis-Like Disease Phenotype” and was spearheaded by Dr. Jane Jones, a postdoctoral fellow, in Dr. Robert Cramer’s laboratory here at Dartmouth College.
December 2020
Xi (Dylan) Wang, a MCB graduate student, had his had her first manuscript published in The Journal of Immunology entitled: “MDA5 Is an Essential Sensor of a Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern Associated with Vitality That Is Necessary for Host Resistance against Aspergillus fumigatus.” This work was highlighted in the Top Reads of the December 2020 issue.
September 2020
Our lab’s review article entitled “Sensing the threat posed by Aspergillus infection” was published in the 2020 Host-Fungi Interactions Special Issue of Current Opinion in Microbiology.
July 2020
Madeleine Grau, a MCB graduate student, recently joined the laboratory. Her project aims to elucidate how prior influenza A virus infection induces susceptibility to secondary Aspergillus fumigatus infection. Alex Rapp, a MCB graduate student, recently joined the laboratory. His project aims to elucidate how phagocytosed Aspergillus fumigatus spores drive activation of cytosolic PRRs.
July 2020
Dr. Josh Obar was reappointed to serve on the AAI Committee on Public Affairs and serve as the Chair of the Public Health and Biosecurity Subcommittee.
February 2020
Dr. Josh Obar was awarded an NIH R21 Award entitled “DEVELOPMENT OF AN INFLUENZA A VIRUS AND ASPERGILLUS FUMIGATUS COINFECTION MODEL”
October 2019
Dr. Josh Obar recently attended the 22nd Annual Upstate New York Immunology Conference held at The Otesaga Resort Hotel. Dr. Obar gave a talk at this year’s meeting entitled “Host and Pathogen Determinants of the Inflammatory Response Induced by Aspergillus fumigatus.”
September 2019
Dr. Josh Obar recently joined the Scientific Advisory Board for Upstate New York Immunology Conference.
August 2019
Dr. Josh Obar was awarded an NIH R01 Award entitled "Fungal spore sensing by Mda5 is necessary for antifungal immunity against Aspergillus fumigatus".
July 2019
Dr. Josh Obar was awarded a Pilot Award entitled "Effects of sensitization to Aspergillus fumigatus on lung damage and clearance" through the Dartmouth Cystic Fibrosis Research Development Program.
May 2019
Dr. Josh Obar was awarded a United States Patent with Dr. Nancy Freitag entitled "Attenuated Listeria monocytogenes mutant as a vaccine vector for the delivery of exogenous antigens".
May 2019
Dr. Josh Obar recently attended the Immunology 2019™ Meeting held in San Diego, California.
June 2018
Dr. Josh Obar was appointed to serve on the AAI Committee on Public Affairs.
May 2018
Drs. Josh Obar and Rachel Temple recently attended the Immunology 2018™ Meeting held in Austin, Texas. Dr. Temple presented her work on the role mast cells during influenza A virus infection at the meeting.
March 2018
Dr. Josh Obar recently attended the Gordon Research Conference focused on the Biology of Acute Respiratory Infections in Ventura, California, where he presented the labs work focused on Mda5 in antifungal immunity.
January 2018
Marina Kirkland, a MCB graduate student, recently joined the laboratory. Her project aims to elucidate the role of cytotoxic cells following infection with certain Aspergillus fumigatus strains.
January 2018
Our collaborative paper examining the role of leukotriene B4 in regulating the inflammatory response induced by Aspergillus fumigatus was recently published in a special research topic in Frontiers in Immunology entitled: “Immunity to Human Fungal Pathogens: Mechanisms of Host Recognition, Protection, Pathology, and Fungal Interference”. The work was spearheaded by Alayna Caffrey-Carr and involved a collaboration with Dr. Robert Cramer’s laboratory.
December 2017
Our collaborative paper examining Aspergillus fumigatus strain specific inflammatory responses was recently published in Infection & Immunity and selected by the editor as an “Article of Significant Interest from This Issue”. The work was spearheaded by Alayna Caffrey-Carr and involved collaborations with both Dr. Robert Cramer’s and Dr. Tobias Hohl’s laboratories.
October 2017
A collaboration with Dr. Amariliz Rivera and colleagues examining the role of type I and type III interferon in host resistance against Aspergillus fumigatus was recently published in Science Immunology.
September 2017
Dylan Wang, a MCB graduate student, recently joined the laboratory. His project aims to further elucidate why certain Aspergillus fumigatus strains induce distinct inflammatory responses.
June 2017
Alayna Caffrey-Carr successfully defend her Ph.D. thesis entitled: "THE ROLES OF INTERLEUKIN-1 AND LEUKOTRIENE-B4 IN THE INNATE IMMUNE RESPONSE TO PULMONARY ASPERGILLUS FUMIGATUS INFECTION". Alayna will be moving on to become a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Ross Kedl at the University of Colorado – Denver. CONGRATULATIONS!
May 2017
Drs. Josh Obar and Rachel Temple recently attended the Immunology 2017™ Meeting held in Washington DC. Both presented their work at the meeting and participated in AAI’s Capitol Hill Day.
March 2017
McKenzie Stannard recently joined the laboratory as a Research Technician. His project aims to elucidate why certain Aspergillus fumigatus strains grow better in the mammalian respiratory tract than others.
May 2016
Dr. Josh Obar, Alayna Caffrey, and Rachel Temple recently attended the Immunology 2016™ Meeting held in Seattle, Washington. Both Alayna and Rachel were awarded AAI Trainee Abstract Awards to present their research. Rachel gave a short talk entitled "When signals get crossed: the consequences of dual allergen- and influenza-mediated signaling in mast cells" in the Mast Cell & IgE Block Symposium, while Alayna gave a short talk entitled "Aspergillus fumigatus strain-specific host response is regulated by glucose sensing" in the Molecular Signatures of Eukaryotic Pathogens Block Symposium. CONGRATULATIONS!
May 2016
Rachel Temple was one of ten young investigators selected to participate in the sixth class of the AAI Public Policy Fellowship Program. CONGRATULATIONS!
March 2016
Dr. Josh Obar and Alayna Caffrey recently attended the 7th Advance Against Aspergillosis Meeting held in Manchester, UK. Dr. Obar gave a short talk entitled "Compartment-specific activation of the inflammasome by Aspergillus fumigatus" and Alayna presented a poster on Aspergillus fumigatus strain specific immune response. Based on Alayna's poster presentation she was selected as one of the Outstanding Poster Presenters at the meeting. CONGRATULATIONS!
February 2016
Rachel Temple recently attended the both the Gordon Research Seminar and Gordon Research Conference on the Biology of Acute Respiratory Infections held in Galveston, Texas. Based on her submitted abstract she was invited to give short talks at BOTH meetings. CONGRATULATIONS!
December 2015
Alayna Caffrey was recently awarded the Ferguson Award from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at Montana State University. This award is given to a Ph.D. candidate in recognition of excellence in research. CONGRATULATIONS!
December 2015
Rachel Temple was recently awarded the Translational Immunology Travel Award from ImmuNext. Rachel will attend the Gordon Research Conference on the Biology of Acute Respiratory Infections to be held in Galveston, Texas in February 2016. CONGRATULATIONS!
August 2015
The Obar Laboratory officially moves back to Dr. Obar's alma mater, the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the Geisel School of Medicine
July 2015
Dr. Josh Obar was recently appointed an Associate Editor at the Journal of Immunology.
July 2015
Alayna Caffrey was recently awarded the Kopriva Graduate Fellowship from the College of Letters & Sciences at Montana State University. CONGRATULATIONS!
May 2015
Dr. Josh Obar gave an invited seminar in the Society for Leukocyte Biology Symposium at the 2015 American Association of Immunologist Annual Meeting in New, Orleans, LA.
May 2015
Our review on the role that mast cell plays in virus induced immunopathology was recently published in Frontiers in Immunology as part of the Research Topic on "Influenza Virus Vaccines and Immunotherapies".
May 2015
CONGRATULATIONS to Dr. Amy C. Graham who graduated with her PhD from the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, we will miss you! Good luck at OUHSC with Dr. Noah Butler.
January 2015
Dr. Josh Obar and Alayna Caffrey recently attended the Gordon Research Conference on Fungal Immunology in Galveston, TX. Alayna gave a talk on her IL-1α project at the Gordon Research Seminar held prior to the conference and was selected for the Best Oral Presentation at the seminar. CONGRATULATIONS, Alayna!
January 2015
Our manuscript examining the role of IL-1α in regulating the neutrophil response following Aspergillus fumigatus challenge was recently published in PLoS Pathogens.
September 2014
The Obar Laboratory welcome Dr. Rachel M. Temple, Ph.D. to the laboratory as a post-doctoral fellow. Dr. Temple received her Ph.D. from Pennsylvania State University Medical Center in Hershey, PA working in the laboratory of Dr. Clare Sample.
May 2014
Dr. Josh Obar, Alayna Caffrey, and Amy Graham recently attended the annual American Association of Immunology meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. Amy and Dr. Obar both gave a talks on the role of mast cells during influenza A virus infections.
January 2014
Dr. Josh Obar and Amy Graham recently attended the Keystone Symposium on the Pathogenesis of Respiratory Viruses in Keystone, CO. Amy gave a short talk on role of the influenza hemagglutinin in the activation of mast cells.
September 2013
Dr. Josh Obar was awarded one of five ICAAC Young Investigator Award by the American Society for Microbiology at the ICAAC Meeting in Denver, CO.
June 2013
Dr. Josh Obar was award an R01 from NIH/NIAID entitled: "Mast cell dependent inflammation during respiratory influenza A virus infection".
May 2012
Dr. Josh Obar was one of ten young investigators selected to participate in the second class of the AAI Public Policy Fellowship Program.