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Allison Rice-Ficht

Allison Rice-Ficht

Professor-Joint Appointment Department of Veterinary Pathobiology
Contact
a-ficht@tamu.edu
9798452728
TAMU Mailstop: 1114

Research and Scholarly Interests

Microencapsulation research and vaccine delivery vehicles; use of proteins and protein composites in controlled release for vaccines and pharmaceuticals. Mechanisms of protein folding directed by alpha crystallins and other small heat shock proteins. Mechanisms of genetic polymorphism and diversity among Mycobacterium avium paratuberculosis isolates; innate immunity and host gene expression in response to paratuberculosis infection.

EDUCATION

  • B.S., Auburn University, 1975
  • Ph.D., Vanderbilt University, 1980
  • Ficht TA, Kahl-McDonagh MM, Arenas-Gamboa AM, Rice-Ficht AC (2009). Brucellosis: the case for live, attenuated vaccines. VACCINE. Suppl 4, D40-3
  • Gomez G, Adams LG, Rice-Ficht A, Ficht TA (2013). Host-Brucella interactions and the Brucella genome as tools for subunit antigen discovery and immunization against brucellosis. FRONT CELL INFECT MICROBIOL. 3, 17
  • Arenas-Gamboa AM, Rice-Ficht AC, Kahl-McDonagh MM, Ficht TA (2011). Protective efficacy and safety of Brucella melitensis 16MΔmucR against intraperitoneal and aerosol challenge in BALB/c mice. INFECT IMMUN. 9, 3653-8
  • O'Shea B, Khare S, Klein P, Roussel A, Adams LG, Ficht TA, Rice-Ficht AC (2011). Amplified fragment length polymorphism reveals specific epigenetic distinctions between Mycobacterium avium subspecies paratuberculosis isolates of various isolation types. J CLIN MICROBIOL. 6, 2222-9
  • Khare S, Nunes JS, Figueiredo JF, Lawhon SD, Rossetti CA, Gull T, Rice-Ficht AC, Adams LG (2009). Early phase morphological lesions and transcriptional responses of bovine ileum infected with Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis. VET PATHOL. 4, 717-28
  • Arenas-Gamboa AM, Ficht TA, Davis DS, Elzer PH, Wong-Gonzalez A, Rice-Ficht AC (2009). Enhanced immune response of red deer (Cervus elaphus) to live rb51 vaccine strain using composite microspheres. J WILDL DIS. 1, 165-73
  • O'Shea B, Khare S, Bliss K, Klein P, Ficht TA, Adams LG, Rice-Ficht AC (2004). Amplified fragment length polymorphism reveals genomic variability among Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis isolates. J CLIN MICROBIOL. 8, 3600-6
  • Brown WC, McElwain TF, Ruef BJ, Suarez CE, Shkap V, Chitko-McKown CG, Tuo W, Rice-Ficht AC, Palmer GH (1996). Babesia bovis rhoptry-associated protein 1 is immunodominant for T helper cells of immune cattle and contains T-cell epitopes conserved among geographically distant B. bovis strains. INFECT IMMUN. 8, 3341-50
  • Chitko-McKown CG, Ruef BJ, Rice-Ficht AC, Brown WC (1995). Interleukin-10 downregulates proliferation and expression of interleukin-2 receptor p55 chain and interferon-gamma, but not interleukin-2 or interleukin-4, by parasite-specific helper T cell clones obtained from cattle chronically infected with Babesia bovis or Fasciola hepatica. J INTERFERON CYTOKINE RES. 10, 915-22
  • Brown WC, Logan KS, Zhao S, Bergman DK, Rice-Ficht AC (1995). Identification of Babesia bovis merozoite antigens separated by continuous-flow electrophoresis that stimulate proliferation of helper T-cell clones derived from B. bovis-immune cattle. INFECT IMMUN. 8, 3106-16
  • Brown WC, Woods VM, Chitko-McKown CG, Hash SM, Rice-Ficht AC (1994). Interleukin-10 is expressed by bovine type 1 helper, type 2 helper, and unrestricted parasite-specific T-cell clones and inhibits proliferation of all three subsets in an accessory-cell-dependent manner. INFECT IMMUN. 11, 4697-708
  • Brown WC, Davis WC, Dobbelaere DA, Rice-Ficht AC (1994). CD4+ T-cell clones obtained from cattle chronically infected with Fasciola hepatica and specific for adult worm antigen express both unrestricted and Th2 cytokine profiles. INFECT IMMUN. 3, 818-27
  • Hash SM, Brown WC, Rice-Ficht AC (1994). Characterization of a cDNA encoding bovine interleukin 10: kinetics of expression in bovine lymphocytes. GENE. 2, 257-61
  • Brown WC, Rice-Ficht AC (1994). Use of helper T cells to identify potential vaccine antigens of Babesia bovis. PARASITOL TODAY. 4, 145-9
  • Brown WC, Zhao S, Woods VM, Tripp CA, Tetzlaff CL, Heussler VT, Dobbelaere DA, Rice-Ficht AC (1993). Identification of two Th1 cell epitopes on the Babesia bovis-encoded 77-kilodalton merozoite protein (Bb-1) by use of truncated recombinant fusion proteins. INFECT IMMUN. 1, 236-44
  • Brown WC, Zhao S, Rice-Ficht AC, Logan KS, Woods VM (1992). Bovine helper T cell clones recognize five distinct epitopes on Babesia bovis merozoite antigens. INFECT IMMUN. 10, 4364-72
  • Tetzlaff CL, Rice-Ficht AC, Woods VM, Brown WC (1992). Induction of proliferative responses of T cells from Babesia bovis-immune cattle with a recombinant 77-kilodalton merozoite protein (Bb-1). INFECT IMMUN. 2, 644-52
  • Tripp CA, Wagner GG, Rice-Ficht AC (1989). Babesia bovis: gene isolation and characterization using a mung bean nuclease-derived expression library. EXP PARASITOL. 3, 211-25

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