ASCI / Emerging-Generation Awards, 2023

Infectious diseases are leading causes of global morbidity and mortality, yet the antimicrobial pipeline is diminishing sharply, making it imperative that we develop new approaches for treatment. The manifestation and clinical course of infections occurs due to the intersection of multiple host and pathogen factors, but in most clinical settings, there is an overwhelming focus on pathogens, with limited granular queries of the immune response. Pierre Ankomah, MD, PhD believes this is a crucial frontier for infectious diseases; detailed characterization of immune responses to understand their variation between individuals and patient groups, over time, and in response to different microbial stimuli will open new avenues for management of infections, including selection of immunomodulatory strategies.

Dr. Ankomah received graduate training as a microbial population biologist, developing and parameterizing mathematical models that evaluated the contribution of antibiotic pharmacodynamics, immune cidal activity and bacterial physiological states to the clearance of infections from S. aureus, E. coli, and mycobacteria. In his post-doctoral work, he is using transcriptional analysis of immune cells at single-cell resolution (scRNA-seq) to study the immunological heterogeneity underlying sepsis. Gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria differ in pathogen-mediated damage and immune-response pathway activation, yet there is limited understanding of the mechanistic differences in sepsis caused by these groups of organisms. ScRNA-seq studies in our laboratory have uncovered a novel monocyte subpopulation (MS1) enriched in sepsis. Dr. Ankomah is analyzing immune cells from gram-negative and gram-positive sepsis to investigate differences in MS1 quantity and kinetics, gene and protein expression, and modulatory activity on other immune cells. The project provides rigorous training in next generation genomics and quantitative immunology and is equipping him with tools to develop a research program pursuing investigations at the intersection of host and microbial biology. Ultimately, Dr. Ankomah hopes to inform a new approach to infectious diseases where immunological considerations become as routine as pathogen-based ones.