TTUHSC School of Medicine
Immunology

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Matthew B. Grisham, PhD

Matthew B. Grisham, PhD

Professor and Chair
Vernon and Elizabeth Haggerton Chair in Gastroenterology

Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology
Phone: 806.743.2598
Lab: 806.743.2089
Fax: 806.743.2334
Matthew B. Grisham, PhD



Biography

Matthew B. Grisham is Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology and the Vernon and Elizabeth Chair in Gastroenterology at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center in Lubbock, Texas. Dr. Grisham graduated from the University of South Florida (USF) in Tampa, Florida with a B.A. degree (with honors) in Biology in 1975. Following graduation from USF, Dr. Grisham was hired as a Research Scientist in the Department of Pathology at the USF School of Medicine where he worked until the fall of 1977. He then enrolled in the graduate program at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center where he received his PhD. in Biochemistry from the Department of Biochemistry in 1982. Dr. Grisham moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he was awarded a Post Doctoral Fellowship in Immunology and Inflammation at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. In 1984, Dr. Grisham was recruited to the University of South Alabama College of Medicine where he assumed the position of Assistant Professor in the Department of Biochemistry. Three years later, he was recruited to the Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology at LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport, Louisiana where he rose through the ranks achieving the position of Professor and Associate Director of the Center of Excellence for Arthritis and Rheumatology. In 2012, Dr. Grisham was recruited to Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center where he assumed the position of Professor and Chair of the Department of Immunology and Molecular Microbiology. Dr. Grisham has received several honors and awards including the Distinguished Alumni Award from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center, the Intestinal Diseases Research Award from the University of Calgary Health Sciences Center in Calgary, Canada, the William A. Pryor Distinguished Lectureship Award from Louisiana State University (LSU) in Baton Rouge and the Boyd Professorship awarded by the LSU System Offices. Dr. Grisham has held numerous national and international leadership positions over the past two decades including his service as the President of the Society for Free Radical Biology and Medicine, President of the Gulf Coast Physiological Society, Councilor for the Immunology, Microbiology and Inflammatory Bowel Disease section of the American Gastroenterological Association and Chair of the Gastrointestinal and Liver Section of the American Physiological Society. He has served or is currently serving as an Associate Editor for the journals Free Radical Biology and Medicine; Inflammatory Bowel Diseases, American Journal of Physiology and Journal of Clinical Biochemistry and Nutrition. In addition, he has served or is currently serving on the editorial boards of the Journal of Immunology, Inflammatory Bowel Diseases and the American Journal of Physiology. Dr. Grisham continues to serve as an active member of the Grants Review Committee for the Crohn’s and Colitis Foundation of America and has served or is currently serving as a member on several different Study Sections/Grants Review Committees for the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Dr. Grisham’s research focuses on the pathogenesis and regulation of chronic intestinal inflammation. His research has been continuously funded for the past 25 years by the NIH. He has published more than 275 peer-reviewed journal articles, 74 book chapters, edited two books and written one book all related to the pathogenesis and regulation of acute and chronic inflammation.

Research

Grisham Research

The intestinal mucosa encounters more antigens and potential pathogens than any other tissue in the body. Consequently, the small and large intestine represent the largest and most complex components of the immune system. Fortunately, the intestine and its associated lymphoid tissue have evolved efficient mechanisms to distinguish between potentially pathogenic microorganisms and harmless dietary antigens and commensal (nonpathogenic) bacteria. The inability to properly regulate these different immune responses is thought to lead to chronic inflammatory disorders such as the inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD; Crohn's disease; ulcerative colitis). Patients with IBD experience rectal bleeding, severe diarrhea, abdominal pain, fever and weight loss that coincides with the infiltration of large numbers of potentially injurious leukocytes into the intestinal tissue. My laboratory is interested in defining the molecular, cellular and immunological mechanisms responsible for the induction, perpetuation and regulation of chronic intestinal inflammation. Our research focuses on three major aspects of intestinal immunity that are thought to be involved in the induction and regulation of IBD including: a) T cell trafficking to the gut-associated lymphoid tissue (Peyer’s patches; isolated lymphoid follicles) and the gut-draining mesenteric lymph nodes (MLNs); b) Homing of disease-producing effector T cells from the blood to the healthy and inflamed intestine and c) Regulation of induction and progression of intestinal inflammation. It is our hope that data obtained from these investigations will reveal novel therapeutic strategies that may be used to treat patients with these devastating diseases.

Laboratory Techniques

  1. Quantitative PCR.
  2. Multiplex protein arrays.
  3. Florescence-activated cell sorting (FACS) and analysis.
  4. Cell and Tissue Culture.
  5. Genetically-engineered and immune-manipulated mouse models of chronic disease.

Publications

For a complete list of publications by Matthew B. Grisham in PubMed click here