McNamara Lab

Beirne B. Carter Center for Immunology Research
Department of Medicine: Cardiovascular Medicine
University of Virginia School of Medicine

Mission Statement

The McNamara Lab in the Beirne B. Carter Immunology Center at the University of Virginia focuses on discovering how immune cells contribute to cardiovascular disease (CVD). While medicine has made important advances in reducing heart attacks and stroke with lifestyle modification and cholesterol lowering, cardiovascular disease remains the leading cause of death worldwide. Clearly, other factors are involved, and the immune system has emerged as a key factor. The main areas of focus in the laboratory include: determining how B lymphocytes contribute to atherosclerosis; identifying the mechanism that regulate specific B lymphocyte subtypes; characterizing the role of immune cell checkpoint molecules in CVD and discovering novel biomarkers based on functional immune cell phenotypes in humans with CVD.

    Our primary goals are to:
  1. Discover novel immune-mediated mechanisms involved in cardiovascular disease.
  2. Identify new therapeutic targets to reduce cardiovascular disease.
  3. Design immune system-based diagnostics and biomarkers to aid in diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of therapy response in cardiovascular disease.

Research
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Members
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Publications
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Professional Affiliations

AHA - American Heart Association
ATVB - Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis, and Vascular Biology
AAI - American Association of Immunologists
NAVBO - North American Vascular Biology Organization

Associated Sites

Robert M. Berne Cardiovascular Research Center
Department of Cardiovascular Medicine
Cardiovascular Training Grant
Carter Immunology Training Grant


UVA Collaborators

Human Phenotyping and Immune Cell Core

Angela Taylor, MD
School of Medicine
Division of Cardiovascular Medicine

Ani W. Manichaikul, PhD
School of Medicine
Center for Public Health Genomics

Eli Zunder, PhD
School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Department of Biomedical Engineering

Stefan Bekiranov, PhD
School of Medicine
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Genetics

La Jolla Institute of Immunology Collaborators

Lynn Hedrick, PhD
Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation
Center for Cancer Immunotherapy

Klaus Ley, PhD
Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation