Misson Statement
Dr. Peter J. Gaskill
Our research explores the immunomodulatory effects of neurotransmitters, addictive drugs and neuropsychiatric therapeutics in neurological and inflammatory disease. Currently, our projects focus on the impact of dopamine on HIV replication and associated inflammation in the brain and other organs. These studies focus on macrophages, one of the principal targets for HIV in many organ systems. We mainly use primary human macrophages from blood and tissues as well as iPSC-derived macrophages and microglia. The majority of our experiments use high-content imaging to perform unbiased, high-throughput analysis of large, heterogenous cell populations and molecular targets in response to many distinct stimuli. Combining these high content analyses with molecular and cell biology techniques enables us to focus specifically on the molecular mechanisms regulating the involvement of myeloid cells in disease processes. Our current projects a) examine the impact of stimulants and benzodiazepines on HIV infection in macrophages and microglia, b) evaluate differences in HIV infection of syngeneic macrophages and microglia, c) examine the effects of co-infection and stimulants on HIV infection in liver and lung macrophages, d) examine the impact of dopamine on macrophage function and e) examine the impact of HIV infection on neuronal function in syngeneic co-cultures of iPSC-derived microglia and dopamine neurons.
Gaskill Lab News
April 2024
Tofunmi, was selected to give an oral presentation at the Philadelphia Society for Neuroscience meeting here at Drexel on April 19th!!! Way to go Tofunmi!!!
March 2024
Tofumni Oteju, Breana Channer and Marzieh Daniali all gave incredible oral presentations at thethe 2024 Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology meeting in Charleston, South Carolina!!! Breann spoke during a symposium on "Immune-dopaminergic interactions in neurological disorders", while Marzieh and Tofunmi both spoke at the student oral showcase session.
Dr. Gaskill submitted a multi-PI R01 with Drs. Barker and Schlachetzki on Cross-model investigation on the role of inflammasomes in the neurobehavioral and transcriptomic effects of cocaine exposure and HIV infection
Tofunmi Oteju was selected to present her work on the effect of cocaine on HIV infection on microglia at the Merck Student Showcase!!!
January 2024
Congratulations again to Tofunmi, who received a Travel Award to attend the 2024 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics meeting in May!!
Congratulations to both Tofunmi and Marzieh for receiving a Travel Awards and oral presentations for the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in in Charleston this March!!
Welcome to our new rotation students, Elizabeth Homer and Aarohee Bhattarai, we are thrilled for you to join our group!!
December 2023
Congratulations Breana for receiving a Deans' travel Award to attend the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in March!!!
Dr. Gaskill chaired a great symposium on "neuro"-immunomodulation at the 5th annual Immunomodulation and Engineering Symposium at Drexel.
November 2023
Dr. Gaskill and Dr. Marcondes proposal for a symposium on "Immune-dopaminergic interactions in neurological disorders” was accepted and will be featured at the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in Charleston!!!
October 2023
Huge congratulations to Teresa, who successfully defended her thesis "Development of a High Throughput High Content Imaging Viral Titer Assay to Investigate the Effect of Substance Misuse on HIV-1 Replicative Dynamics in hMDMs" !!!
Congratulations to Alexis for resubmitting her F31!!!
Incredibly thrilled to be heading the Drexel portion of a newly funded collaborative R61 led by Drs. Cagla Espinoza, Kelly Jordan This project will develop new multimodal profiling pipelines to better define the role of microglia in HIV neuropathogenesis during substance misuse.
September 2023
Huge congratulations to Tofumi, who absolutely crushed her qualifying exam this month !!!
Breana resubmitted her F30, congratulations!!
August 2023
Was a relatively quiet month ... would that we had more like this one.
July 2023
Congratulations to Dayna Robinson on her successful defense of her thesis entitled "Defining The Signaling Mechanisms By Which Dopamine Stimulates Akt Activation in Primary Human Macrophages."'
Congratulations to Dr. Stephanie Matt on her promotion to Research Assistant Professor!!!
Joanna Canagarajah, a former lab member who is now in Ross medical school, won first place for her research presentation of the the data she generated working in the Gaskill lab from 2021 - 2022. Congratulations Joanna!!!