Email: abbotj@vetmed.ufl.edu

Overall Research Interests. Research in ther laboratory is centered on immunology and pathology of infectious disease and vaccine development.  The focus is on bacterial infections and the host response, particularly when the infection is persistent in nature with antigenic variation including Anaplasma marginale the causitive agent of Bovine anaplasmosis and Anaplasma phagocytophilum, the causitive agent of Anplasmosis in humans, dogs, horses, sheep and other mammals.  Our goal is to identify antigens that elicit cellular and humoral immunity and protect against infection and disease.  In addition, we aim to identify mechanisms by which the bacteria modulate the immune system to survive persistently in the face of a competent immune response.

Representative Publications

Milner RJ, Salute M, Crawford C, Abbott JR, Farese J: The immune response to disialoganglioside GD3 vaccination in normal dogs: a melanoma surface antigen vaccine. Veterinary Immunology and Immunopathology; 114(3-4):273-284; 2006.

Evermann JF, Han S, and Abbott JR: Canine coronavirus-associated puppy mortality without evidence of concurrent canine parvovirus infection.  Journal of Veterinary Diagnostic Investigation; 7(6):610-4; 2005.

Abbott JR, Palmer GH, Kegerreis KA, Hetrick P, Howard CJ, Hope JC, and Brown WC: Rapid and long-term disappearance of CD4+ T-lymphocyte responses specific for Anaplasma marginale major surface protein-2 (MSP2) in MSP2 vaccinates following challenge with live A. marginale. Journal of Immunology; 174:6702-15; 2005.

Staska LM, Davies CJ, Brown WC, McGuire TC, Suarez CE, Park JY, Mathison BA, Abbott JR, Baszler TV: Vaccine-candidate peptides in the NcSRS2 surface protein of Neospora caninum identified by CD4+ CTL and IFN-gamma-secreting T lymphocytes of infected Holstein cattle. Infection and Immunity; 73:1321-29; 2005.

Abbott JR, Palmer GH, Howard CJ, Hope JC, and Brown WC: Anaplasma marginale major surface protein 2 CD4+ T-cell epitopes are evenly distributed in conserved and hypervariable regions (HVR), whereas linear B-cell epitopes are predominantly located in the HVR. Infection and Immunity 72:7360-66; 2004.

Zhang Y, Palmer GH, Abbott JR, Howard CJ, Hope JC, and Brown WC: CpG ODN 2006 and IL-12 are comparable for priming Th1 lymphocytes and IgG responses in cattle immunized with a rickettsial outer membrane protein in alum. Vaccine 21:3307-18; 2003.