About
Don Sheppard is an infectious diseases physician and medical microbiologist who he leads the Medical Mycology laboratory and practices clinical infectious diseases at the McGill University Health Centre.
He is primarily interested in human fungal disease, particularly invasive aspergillosis in the immunocompromised host. Sheppard’s research interests focus on elucidating how the fungal pathogen Aspergillus fumigatus causes human disease and developing new therapeutics for these infections. His research group has discovered the molecular mechanism by which Aspergillus forms biofilms and is pursuing antifungal therapies that interfere with this process.
Awards
- Fellow, American Academy of Microbiology, 2018
- Fellow, American Society of Clinical Investigation, 2018
- Fonds du Québec Recherche Santé: Research Chair, 2017
- Fellow, Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, 2017
- Career Award in the Biomedical Sciences, Burroughs-Wellcome Fund, 2002
Relevant Publications
Snarr BD, Baker P, Bamford NC, Sato Y, Liu H, Lehoux M, Gravelat FN, Ostapska H, Baistrocchi SR, Cerone RP, Filler EE, Parsek MR, Filler SG, Howell PL, Sheppard DC. Microbial glycoside hydrolases as antibiofilm agents with cross-kingdom activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2017;114(27):7124-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1702798114. PubMed PMID: 28634301.
Lee MJ, Geller A, Bamford NC, Liu H, Gravelat FN, Snarr BD, Le Mauff F, Chabot J, Ralph B, Ostapska H, Lehoux M, Cerone RP, Baptista SD, Vinogradov E, Stajich JE, Filler SG, Howell PL, Sheppard DC*. (2016) Deacetylation of fungal exopolysaccharide mediates adhesion and biofilm formation. mBio 7(2):e00252-16. PMID: 27048799
Lee MJ, Liu H, Barker BM, Snarr BD, Gravelat FN, Al Abdallah Q, Gavino C, Baistrocchi SR, Ostapska H, Xiao T, Ralph B, Solis NV, Lehoux M, Baptista SD, Thammahong A, Cerone RP, Kaminskyj SG, Guiot MC, Latge JP, Fontaine T, Vinh DC, Filler SG, Sheppard DC. The Fungal Exopolysaccharide Galactosaminogalactan Mediates Virulence by Enhancing Resistance to Neutrophil Extracellular Traps. PLoS Pathog. 2015;11(10):e1005187. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005187. PubMed PMID: 26492565; PMCID: PMC4619649.
Urb M, Snarr BD, Wojewodka G, Lehoux M, Lee MJ, Ralph B, Divangahi M, King IL, McGovern TK, Martin JG, Fraser R, Radzioch D, Sheppard DC. Evolution of the Immune Response to Chronic Airway Colonization with Aspergillus fumigatus Hyphae. Infect Immun. 2015;83(9):3590-600. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00359-15. PubMed PMID: 26123803; PMCID: PMC4534667.
Gravelat FN, Beauvais A, Liu H, Lee MJ, Snarr BD, Chen D, Xu W, Kravtsov I, Hoareau CM, Vanier G, Urb M, Campoli P, Al Abdallah Q, Lehoux M, Chabot JC, Ouimet MC, Baptista SD, Fritz JH, Nierman WC, Latge JP, Mitchell AP, Filler SG, Fontaine T, Sheppard DC. Aspergillus galactosaminogalactan mediates adherence to host constituents and conceals hyphal beta-glucan from the immune system. PLoS Pathog. 2013;9(8):e1003575. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1003575. PubMed PMID: 23990787; PMCID: PMC3749958.
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