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Diane McMahon-Pratt

 

Microbiology

Professor of Epidemiology & Public Health

Education

B.A. Connecticut College 1976
Ph.D. University of Texas at Austin 1984

Research Interests

The focus of the research in my laboratory is the genus of parasitic protozoan, Leishmania, which causes a spectrum of diseases known as leishmaniasis. The laboratory is interested in understanding the immune effector mechanisms in the mammalian host that are involved in the control of infection and/or pathogenesis, with the aim to developing a vaccine. The laboratory has defined target vaccine candidate molecules and is collaborating with the University of Iowa and Cambridge University in a project directed toward the development of a multi-subunit vaccine. Currently, Professor McMahon-Pratt is director of a National Institutes of Health sponsored International Collaborating Infectious Disease Research Center Program with Centro Internacional de Entrenamiento e Investigaciones Médicas (CIDEIM) in Colombia. This program is focused on understanding the pathology and epidemiology of leishmaniasis caused by Leishmania (Viannia), which predominates in South America. The ultimate objectives of the ICIDR program are to develop methods of intervention.

Recent Publications

• Dondji, B., Perez-Jimenez, E., Goldsmith-Pestana, K., Esteban, M., and McMahon-Pratt, D. (2005). Heterologous prime-boost vaccination using the LACK antigen protects against Murine Visceral Leishmaniasis. Infection and Immunity 73:5286-5289.
• McMahon-Pratt, D. and Alexander, J. (2004). Does the Leishmania major paradigm of pathogenesis and protection hold for New World Cutaneous Leishmaniases or the visceral disease? Immunological Rev. 201:206-224.

Contact

E-mail
diane.mcmahon-pratt@yale.edu