Katrina Traber, M.D. 

Traber_Katrina_2-5x3-5Assistant Professor of Medicine

katraber@bu.edu
BU Profile for Dr. Traber

Medical School: New York University 
Doctor of Philosophy: New York University
Residency: Boston University
Fellowship: Boston University 

 

Special Interests

Research

  •  Innate immune response during pneumonia
  • Neutrophil biology during pneumonia
  •  IL-6 family cytokine signaling

The long-term goal of the Traber Lab is to identify and develop new strategies to treat severe neutrophil-based sequelae of pneumonia such as ARDS and sepsis. To achieve this goal, we use in vivo and in vitro models of pneumonia to investigate mechanisms of neutrophil dysfunction in acute lung infections. Currently, we have been using two broad approaches to understand neutrophil biology. First, we are examining modulation of the neutrophil transcriptome during neutrophil migration from circulation to the alveolar space. Second, we are investigating how Oncostatin M (OSM), an IL-6 family cytokine produced by neutrophils in many acute and chronic inflammatory settings, including pneumonia, ARDS and sepsis potentiates neutrophil migration to the alveoli during pneumonia.

If you are interested in joining our research group, please contact Dr. Traber at katraber@bu.edu.

Clinical

  • Critical Care Medicine
  • Acute Lung Infections
  •  Tuberculosis

Selected Publications

    1. Traber KE*, Dimbo EL, Shenoy AT, Symer EM, Allen E, Mizgerd JP, Quinton LJ. Neutrophil-Derived Oncostatin M Triggers Diverse Signaling Pathways during Pneumonia. Infection and Immunity. 2021 Mar 17;89(4). PMID: 33526570; PMCID: PMC8090961. *corresponding author

    2. Guillon A, Arafa EI, Barker KA, Belkina AC, Martin I, Shenoy AT, Wooten AK, Lyon De Ana C, Dai A, Labadorf A, Hernandez Escalante J, Dooms H, Blasco H, Traber KE, Jones MR, Quinton LJ, Mizgerd JP. Pneumonia recovery reprograms the alveolar macrophage pool. JCI Insight. 2020 Feb 27;5(4). PMID: 31990682; PMCID: PMC7101156.

    3. Traber KE*, Dimbo EL, Symer EM, Korkmaz FT, Jones MR, Mizgerd JP, Quinton LJ*. Roles of interleukin-11 during acute bacterial pneumonia. PLoS One. 2019;14(8):e0221029. PMID: 31415618; PMCID: PMC6695241. *co-corresponding authors

    4. Traber KE, Symer EM, Allen E, Kim Y, Hilliard KL, Wasserman GA, Stewart CL, Jones MR, Mizgerd JP and Quinton LJ. Myeloid-epithelial crosstalk coordinates synthesis of the tissue protective cytokine leukemia inhibitory factor during pneumonia. American journal of physiology – Lung cellular and molecular physiology. 2017; Sep 1;313(3):L548-L558. PMID: 28522567 PMCID: PMC5625259

    5. Traber KE, Hilliard KL, Allen E, Wasserman GA, Yamamoto K, Jones MR, Mizgerd JP and Quinton LJ. Oncostatin M induces STAT3-dependent CXCL5 expression and neutrophil recruitment during pneumonia. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology. 2015; 53(4): 479-88. PMID: 25692402 PMCID: PMC4742898

    6. Traber KE, Lee R, Benson S, Corrigan R, Cantera M and Novick RP. Agr function in clinical Staphylococcus aureus isolates. Microbiology. 154 (8): 2265-74, Aug 2008. PMID: 18667559 PMCID: PMC4904715

    7. Traber KE and Novick RP. A slipped-mispairing mutation in AgrA of laboratory strains and clinical isolates results in delayed activation of agr and failure to translate delta- and alpha-hemolysins. Molecular Microbiology. 59(5): 1519-30, Mar 2006. PMID: 16468992

      Links

      Publication list

      BU Profile

      Pneumonia Biology