Dr. Travers is a dermatologist physician-scientist. His laboratory is interested in inflammatory lipid mediators, in particular the glycerophosphocholine-derived autacoid platelet-activating factor (PAF). His discoveries in this field include that keratinocytes both synthesize and express receptors…
more for PAF, and that pro-oxidative stressors including UV result in the production of PAF species produced in a non-enzymatic fashion. Moreover, Dr. Travers has demonstrated that bacterial products including alpha toxin and lipoteichoic acid can exert immunomodulatory effects in part via the PAF system. His group is also interested in bacterial products including bacterial superantigens, and how they can modulate inflammatory skin diseases like psoriasis and atopic dermatitis. Finally, he has active studies defining the role of fibroblast senescence in abnormal UVB responsiveness of keratinocytes and its role in non-melanoma skin cancer.
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