Welcome to the Rivera-Nieves Lab. Our lab studies Crohn's Disease with a strong clinical focus using the reproducible TNFΔARE model of inflammatory bowel disease. We focus on leukocyte trafficking and the factors responsible for maintenance of chronic intestinal inflammation. Our primary techniques are flow cytometry and RT-PCR.
Jesús Rivera-Nieves
Dr. Jesús Rivera-Nieves arrived at the MIP in the summer of 2007 as a joint recruitment by the Mucosal Inflammation Program and the Department of Medicine (Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology). Originally from Puerto Rico, Jesús has spent the majority of his research career in the continental United States. Following medical school at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan, he completed residency training at the University of Maryland and a research fellowship at the NIH in Bethesda. Dr. Rivera-Nieves then completed a clinical gastroenterology fellowship at the University of Virginia, where he transitioned to faculty and rose to the rank of Assistant Professor. He came to Denver in 2007 where he has established his clinical practice and research laboratory. His major research interests include defining the role of adhesion molecules in the pathogenesis of experimental inflammatory bowel disease, particularly ileitis. The Rivera-Nieves lab using uses physiological and translational methodologies to define these principles.
Colm Collins
In 1999, Colm undertook a BSc with the Department of Pharmacology, University College Dublin, Ireland which thanks to some excellent demonstrators led him into a PhD program with the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, University College Dublin. In 2007 Colm submitted his thesis entitled Avian Intestinal Mucosal Immunity and was promptly awarded a PhD (which he never collected). Colm undertook a brief postdoctoral position in the College of Life Sciences, University College Dublin, studying the role of Dectin-1 agonists in porcine mucosal immunity before applying to Dr. Jesús Rivera-Nieves within the Mucosal Inflammation Program. Following a high altitude interview process, Colm joined the Ireland-Denver researcher exchange program and took up a postdoc position in University of Colorado Denver. As senior postdoc, Colm has benefitted greatly from Jesus' expertise in studying leukocyte trafficking in general and mechanisms of mucosal inflammation in the TNFΔARE mouse model specifically. Colm has been charged with examining the contribution of small intestinal dendritic cells to the development and maintenance of chronic intestinal inflammation in this murine model of Crohn's Disease. It is hoped that this research will lead to potential dendritic cell-based therapies for overactive immune-mediated diseases.
Eoin McNamee
Eoin graduated with a BSc in Biology from National University of Ireland, Maynooth in 2003 and from Trinity College Dublin in 2004 with an MSc from the Department of Physiology. He stayed in the Trinity College Institute of Neuroscience to complete a PhD in the summer of 2008 in the area of NeuroImmunology. His PhD thesis was entitled "Noradrenergic modulation of the CNS immune response: A critical role for the Β-adrenoceptor". After a quick screening process by the Irish mafia in the University of Colorado Denver, Eoin started a postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Jesús Rivera-Nieves studying the development of tertiary lymph organ development and there involvement in chronic intestinal inflammation.
Matthew Lebsack
Born and raised in Colorado, Matt earned a B.A. in biochemistry from Colorado College. Subsequently, he spent two years as a chemistry paraprofessional (glorified lab TA) at Colorado College. He then had a three year stint as a research technician at Hopkins School of Public Health working on a regulatory enzyme of NF-kB, A20, with a focus on ubiquitin. He is glad to have returned to Colorado to study science from a medical perspective and is the new PRA for the Rivera-Nieves lab.
Joshua Daniel Wermers
Another native Coloradoan (few of them here where almost everyone is Irish) has recently returned to the lab after a few months leave of absence to study for the MCAT. He will be working a few days a week as a PRA helping out with the mouse colony, histology and flow cytometry. If you have a problem with your computer or any other electronic equipment, ask Josh. He is a proficient snowboarder too.