Biography

Matthew B. Grisham is a Boyd Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology and the Associate Director of Research for the Arthritis Center of Excellence at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Dr. Grisham is currently an Associate Editor of the American Journal of Physiology and Free Radical Biology and Medicine. He has served or is currently serving on the editorial boards of the journals Inflammatory Bowel Disease, the Journal of Immunology and American Journal of Physiology. Dr. Grisham is an active member of the Grants Review Committee for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America (CCFA) and for the National Institute of Digestive Diseases and Kidney at the National Institutes of Health. He has held the position of President of the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine as well as served as Councilor for the Immunology, Microbiology and Inflammatory Bowel Disease section of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). In addition, Dr. Grisham recently completed his term as Chair of the Gastrointestinal and Liver Section of the American Physiological Society. Dr. Grisham’s research focuses on intestinal mucosal immunology and regulation of chronic gut inflammation. His research has been continuously funded for the past 20 years by NIH and has been awarded several research grants from the CCFA and Broad Foundation. He has published more than 250 peered-reviewed journal articles, 80 book chapters, edited two books and written one book on the mechanisms of acute and chronic inflammation.

Research Interests: Mucosal Immunology and Chronic Gut Inflammation
The intestinal mucosa encounters more antigens and potential pathogens than any other tissue in the body and consequently represents the largest and most complex component of the immune system. Fortunately, the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (GALT) has evolved efficient mechanisms to distinguish between potentially pathogenic bacteria, parasites, and viruses from harmless dietary proteins and commensal bacteria. The inability to properly regulate these different immune responses may ultimately lead to chronic inflammatory disorders such as the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD; Crohn's disease; ulcerative colitis). Patients with IBD experience rectal bleeding, severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and weight loss that appears to be associated with the infiltration of large numbers of inflammatory leukocytes into the intestinal interstitium. My laboratory is interested in defining the immunological mechanisms responsible for the induction and regulation of intestinal inflammation using different animal models of IBD. We are currently investigating three major areas of mucosal immunology related to the induction and perpetuation of chronic gut inflammation including T-cell trafficking to the GALT, activation and polarization of naïve T-cells to disease-producing effector cells and the homing mechanisms utilized by effector T-cells to migrate from the blood and into the small and large intestine where they promote intestinal inflammation.

Laboratory Techniques
  1. Quantitative real time RT-PCR for mRNA determinations
  2. Multiplex arrays for cytokine determinations
  3. Florescence-activated cell sorting (FACS)
  4. Cell Culture
  5. Genetically-engineered and immune-manipulated mouse models