Nathan Peters
Joint Associate Professor
Joint Appointment
Full Member
PhD
Post-doctoral Fellowship
BSc Honours
Contact information
Location
Courses
MDSC 639.02 Cellular and Molecular Biology (Course Coordinator)
MDSC 611 Medical Microbiology (Eukaryotic Pathogens Section Coordinator)
VETMED 343 Fundamentals of Immunology (T cell-mediated Immunity)
Research and Teaching
Research Interests
- Immunology
- Infectious Diseases
- Vaccination
- Inflammation
Research / Scholarly Activities
The Peters lab is focused on the immuno-biology of chronic infectious diseases, with a special emphasis on vector transmitted diseases. The lab employs cutting edge multicolor flow cytometry and two-photon microscopy to unravel the intricacies of host-pathogen interactions in the skin and internal organs employing the Leishmania model of a vector transmitted parasitic disease. The work centers on the earliest events in the host response, including inflammatory cell interactions with vector inoculated parasites, and the regulation and expression of immunity to reinfection, including an exploration of the concept of T cell memory during chronic infections. The lab employs experimental rodent models of the different forms of leishmaniasis seen in humans and dogs in order to understand the immune mechanisms that control disease. Understanding the mechanisms underlying naturally acquired resistance is essential to the design of vaccines. The lab also maintains colonies of vector sand flies in a high containment insectary funded by the Canadian Foundation for Innovation to study Leishmaniasis following transmission of Leishmania via sand fly bite. The goal of the lab is to develop new therapies and vaccines to combat chronic infectious diseases.
Biography
Dr. Peters completed his Ph.D. in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Bretscher at the University of Saskatchewan where he was the recipient of a Canadian Governor General’s Gold Medal for his graduate work on T cell activation. Dr. Peters continued his studies as a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory of David Sacks and then as a staff scientist in the Laboratory of Parasitic Diseases at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases at the NIH, Bethesda, MD. During this time Dr. Peters began studying the role of inflammatory cells during infection with the parasite Leishmania and explored the concept of immune memory during chronic infections. In September 2014 Dr. Peters was cross-appointed to the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine and the Cumming School of Medicine at the University of Calgary and became an Associate Professor in 2017. In 2021 Dr. Peters became the Co-Director of the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases. Dr. Peters has published in some of the top journals including Science, PNAS, Cell Host and Microbe, and PLoS Pathogens.