Spring/Summer 2022
Our collaboration with Dr. Valentin Rybenkov’s lab at OU Norman was published in January: Zhao H, Clevenger AL, Coburn PS, Callegan M, Rybenkov V. Condensins are essential for Pseudomonas aeruginosa corneal virulence through their control of phenotypic programs. Mol Microbiol. 2022 Jan 24. doi: 10.1111/mmi.14883. Online ahead of print. PMID:35072315
Dr. Mursalin presented his research titled Targeting Innate Activation: An Approach to Treat Bacillus Endophthalmitis and Others at the BioTalk Happy Hour, sponsored by @OKCinnovation and Echo Investment Capital on April 6, 2002.
Dr. Callegan virtually presented Targeting Immunomodulation in Bacterial Endophthalmitis during the Anant Bajaj Retina Institute Inaugural Meeting at the LV Prasad Eye Institute in Hyderabad India on May 22, 2022.
The lab welcomes new graduate students Cheyenne Daugherty and Luis Longoria-Gonzalez! They will pursue their PhDs in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. The lab also welcomes Taylor Grooms as a lab volunteer this summer.
Fall 2021
Dr. Mursalin published his first-author paper in IOVS in November: Mursalin MH, Coburn PS, Miller FC, Livingston ET, Astley R, Callegan MC. CXC chemokines influence intraocular inflammation during Bacillus endophthalmitis Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2021 Nov 1;62(14):14. PMID: 34784411 PMCID: PMC8606850
Dr. Callegan presented the Thygeson Lecture titled Targeting Innate Immune Pathways in Bacterial Endophthalmitis at the Ocular Microbiology and Immunology Group Meeting in New Orleans LA on November 12, 2021.
Dr. Mursalin presented his research titled CXCL2 Influences Intraocular Inflammation During Bacillus Endophthalmitis at the 14th Annual OU Vision Workshop on September 23rd. Mursalin was a member of the Organizing Committee and also designed the cover of the abstract book for our workshop!
A figure from Erin’s InhA paper in Infection and Immunity was chosen for the cover of the September 2021 issue.
Dr. Callegan paid a virtual visit to the Ross Eye Institute at SUNY Buffalo and presented Innate Immune Targets in Bacterial Endophthalmitis as part of their Distinguished Lectures in Vision Science Series.
Summer 2021
Erin’s first-author paper from her PhD thesis was published in Infection and Immunity: Livingston ET, Mursalin MH, Coburn PS, Astley R, Miller FC, Amayem O, Lereclus D, Callegan MC. Immune Inhibitor A Metalloproteases Contribute to Virulence in Bacillus Endophthalmitis. Infect Immun. 2021 Jun 7:IAI0020121. doi: 10.1128/IAI.00201-21.
Our lab was awarded a new R01 from the NEI titled Staphylococcus Biology in Ocular infections, and Dr. Callegan was successful in renewing the Department of Ophthalmology’s P30 Vision Research Core Grant to support vision researchers at OUHSC and OMRF. More information on our P30 Core grant can be found at the OU Vision website.
Dr. Callegan was invited to present new data on targeting innate immune pathways at the 2021 EURetina Virtual conference in September.
Spring 2021
Despite the social distancing, space limitations, and a quarantine every now and then, we enjoyed a productive semester. We published a few papers (see Publications) and were awarded a new bridge grant from the Presbyterian Health Foundation (see Funding). Dr. Callegan was also successful in renewing the Department of Ophthalmology’s T32 Vision Research Training Grant to support trainees in vision research at OUHSC.
The most exciting happening — In April, Erin defended her dissertation titled Contribution of Bacillus InhA Metalloproteases to Endophthalmitis, and earned her Ph.D. in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. Congratulations to Dr. Livingston! Erin accepted a position as Lead Scientist at EyeCRO in Oklahoma City and we wish her all the best!
Fall 2020 — The New Normal
The lab opened up again in May and we all donned PPE and socially distanced in the far corners of the lab to continue working and remain productive. Unfortunately, Mursalin’s and Dr. Jamshidi’s ARVO presentations were cancelled, as was Erin’s presentation at ASM. Dr. Callegan’s presentation at ISER and a few invited talks were postponed, as was our annual OU Vision Workshop. Erin presented a seminar in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology titled “Bacillus Immune Inhibitor A Metalloproteases Contribute to Endophthalmitis“, and Mursalin presented a seminar at OU Vision Club titled “Cell Wall to CXC Chemokines: A Search for Therapeutic Targets in Bacillus Endophthalmitis“. We published a few more papers during the year (see Publications) and were awarded a new R21 from the NEI (see Funding). A new bridge grant from the Presbyterian Health Foundation will begin in January. We wish everyone Happy Holidays and a happy, healthy, and less chaotic 2021.
Spring 2020 — The Strangest Semester Ever
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the lab was closed and all non-essential research was halted in early March. A dark lab is indeed a sad lab, but we are still writing and conducting weekly lab meetings via Zoom. We wish everyone good health and a return to normalcy and productive research as soon as possible.
On April 21st, Mursalin successfully defended his doctoral research. We are all so proud of his achievements!
CONGRATULATIONS MD HUZZATUL MURSALIN, Ph.D.!
Thanks to a generous Ferretti Career Development Award from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Mursalin visited the lab of Dr. Michael Gilmore at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Institute/Harvard School of Medicine. Mursalin gave a talk at one of their lab meetings. A few of these great vision researchers look a little familiar…
Dr. Callegan presented new work on corneal staphylococcal infections at the 2020 Cornea and Ocular Surface Biology and Pathology GRC meeting near Barga Italy in February. Yes, she was quarantined when she came home.
- Coburn PS, Miller FC, Enty MA, Land C, LaGrow AL, Mursalin MH, Callegan MC. Expression of Bacillus cereus Virulence-Related Genes in an Ocular Infection-Related Environment. Microorganisms. 2020 Apr 22;8(4). pii: E607. doi: 10.3390/microorganisms8040607. PMID: 32331252
- Bacillus S-Layer-Mediated Innate Interactions During Endophthalmitis. Front Immunol. 2020;11:215. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2020.00215. eCollection 2020. PubMed PMID: 32117322; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7028758.
- The cereus matter of Bacillus endophthalmitis. Exp Eye Res. 2020 Apr;193:107959. doi: 10.1016/j.exer.2020.107959. Epub 2020 Feb 4. Review. PubMed PMID: 32032628; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7113113.
Fall 2019
Lunches with the lab are always fun! Thanks to The Jones Assembly for hosting our motley crew. We wish everyone a happy, healthy, and well-funded 2020!
Erin presented her work on Bacillus metalloproteases and endophthalmitis at the Society for Leukocyte Biology meeting in Boston in November!
Mursalin presented his Microbiology and Immunology departmental seminar titled Bacillus S-Layer-Mediated Innate Interactions During Endophthalmitis on November 12th.
Did you know that Mursalin is a professional photographer? OUHSC presented an exhibit of Mursalin’s photographs in the Bird Library in October.
In September, Dr. Callegan presented “Endophthalmitis: Novel Adjuvant Therapeutics and Future Directions” to clinicians and scientists interested in the problem of endophthalmitis at EURetina in Paris.
The following papers were published during this semester:
S-layer Impacts the Virulence of Bacillus in Endophthalmitis. Invest Ophthalmol Vis Sci. 2019 Sep 3;60(12):3727-3739. doi: 10.1167/iovs.19-27453. PubMed PMID: 31479113; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6719748.
Targets of immunomodulation in bacterial endophthalmitis. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2019 Nov;73:100763. doi: 10.1016/j.preteyeres.2019.05.004. Review. PubMed PMID: 31150824; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6881541.
A Pyrrhic Victory: The PMN Response to Ocular Bacterial Infections. Microorganisms. 2019 Nov 7;7(11). doi: 10.3390/microorganisms7110537. Review. PubMed PMID: 31703354; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6920826.
Summer 2019
We had a fun and productive scientific retreat in August! Thanks to Dr. Miller for flying us out to Tuscany to his brother’s villa…across the street from the OUHSC Faculty House.
We were rewarded a Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Support grant for Mursalin to partially support his work and stipend. Mursalin wrote most of the grant, entitled Contribution of S-Layer Protein in the Pathogenesis of Endophthalmitis.
Welcome! to the Summer crew: Dr. Jonathan Hunt, Bailey Strecker, Cheyenne CJ Hornback, Anna Gregory, Caleb Astley, Omar Amayem, and Will Nightengale.
June Publications
Astley R, Miller FC, Mursalin MH, Coburn PS, Callegan MC. An Eye on Staphylococcus aureus Toxins: Roles in Ocular Damage and Inflammation. Toxins 2019, 11(6), 356. Link
Montgomery ML, Callegan MC, Fuller KK, Carr DJJ. Ocular Glands become Infected Secondary to Infectious Keratitis and Play a Role in Corneal Resistance to Infection. J Virol. 2019 Jun 5. pii: JVI.00314-19. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00314-19. Link
May Publications
Miller FC, Coburn PS, Huzzatul MM, LaGrow AL, Livingston E, Callegan MC. Targets of immunomodulation in bacterial endophthalmitis. Prog Retin Eye Res. 2019 May 28. pii: S1350-9462(19)30027-8. Link
Coburn PS, Miller FC, LaGrow AL, Land C, Mursalin H, Livingston E, Amayem O, Chen Y, Gao W, Zhang L, Callegan MC. Disarming Pore-Forming Toxins with Biomimetic Nanosponges in Intraocular Infections. mSphere. 2019 May 15;4(3). pii: e00262-19. doi: 10.1128/mSphere.00262-19. Link
April 28-May 2, 2019
Erin, Mursalin, and Austin presented their research at ARVO in Vancouver. Erin and Austin competed in the Members In Training poster competition and Erin was awarded 1st place in the Immunology/Microbiology section. Mursalin was chosen for an oral presentation and was awarded the Cora Verhagen Award in Immunology. So proud of you all, awesome job!
April 24, 2019
Erin took part in DMEI’s Great Debate, a debate led by teams of graduate students, postdocs, and ophthalmology residents and fellows, on controversial issues in the field of ophthalmology. Our Great Debate’s topic was “Is non-human primate necessary or ethical for vision research?”. Very lively discussions!
April 2-3, 2019
Erin and Mursalin presented their research at the OUHSC Great Symposium. Mursalin was awarded the Graduate College Award for Scientific Achievement and a $1000 travel award. Fantastic job!
February 5, 2019
Great job Erin!!!
January 23, 2019
We’re excited to announce that our R21 proposal on anti-chemokine therapeutics in ocular infections was funded by NEI/NIH for 2 years. Way to go Phil, Kris, Erin, Mursalin, and Roger, and former graduate student Dr. Madhu Parkunan. Hard work by a fantastic group of scientists pays off!
October 19, 2018
At the 12th Annual OU Vision Workshop today, Erin presented The Role of Immune Inhibitor A1 (InhA1) Metalloprotease in Bacillus Endophthalmitis and Mursalin presented Role of Bacillus S-Layer Protein (SLP) in Adherence and Proinflammatory Signaling. Both were oral presentations and Erin was also a co-organizer of the workshop. Great job you guys!!!
October 15, 2018
Erin presented The Role of Immune Inhibitor A1 Metalloprotease in Bacillus Intraocular Infection at the International Conference on Gram-Positive Pathogens in Omaha NE. She also won a travel award! Congratulations Erin!
October 9, 2018
Mursalin presented Role of Bacillus S-Layer Protein in Host-Cell Interactions During Endophthalmitis to the OUHSC Microbiology and Immunology Department today. Great job Mursalin!
September 6, 2018
We’re excited to announce that our R01 proposal on Bacillus endophthalmitis pathogenesis was funded by NEI/NIH for 5 years. Way to go Phil, Kris, Erin, Mursalin, Roger, Austin, Omar, Morgan, Anna, Parth, Daniel, and Caleb! Hard work by a fantastic group of scientists pays off!
August 2018
We’re on Twitter! @CalleganLab
July 24, 2018
Erin was presented with a Society for Leukocyte Biology Trainee Award today by Dr. Darren Lee. Congratulations Erin!!!
July 2, 2018
Congratulations Erin on passing your General Exam!
June 18, 2018
Dr. Callegan gave an invited talk at the World Ophthalmology Congress in Barcelona, Spain entitled Novel Strategies for Combating Antibiotic Resistance in Eye Infections.
June 9, 2018
Mursalin presented Contribution of S-Layer to the Pathgenesis of Bacillus Endophthalmitis (Mursalin, Coburn, Arroz, Miller, Astley, Fouet, and Callegan) at the American Society for Microbiology 2018 Annual Meeting, Atlanta GA.
Mursalin also won an ASM Travel Award for his poster!
June 1, 2018
Welcome back to the Summer Crew…Austin LaGrow (OUHSC Medical Student), Parth Patel (Oklahoma School for Science and Math), Daniel Astley (Oklahoma Christian University), Caleb Astley (Deer Creek/Francis Tuttle), and Anna Gregory (Teacher at U.S. Grant High School).
April 29, 2018
Dr. Callegan presented Efficacy of Nanosponges in Protecting Retinal Function During Bacterial Endophthalmitis (Callegan, Coburn, Miller, LaGrow, Land, Chen, Gao, and Zhang) at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2018 Annual Meeting, Honolulu HI.
April 28, 2018
Dr. Callegan presented Mentoring vs. Sponsorship at the Leadership Development Program for Women at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2018 Annual Meeting, Honolulu HI.
April 23, 2018
Dr. Callegan was named a George Lynn Cross Research Professor at the OUHSC College of Medicine Spring Faculty Awards ceremony today. This professorship is the highest distinction for research for OUHSC faculty and carries the lifetime title of George Lynn Cross Research Professor.
On November 12, 1943 the Board of Regents established the Regents’ Professorship. Upon his retirement from the University in 1968 the Regents named this professorship after George Lynn Cross. To qualify for a George Lynn Cross Research Professorship, a faculty member must have demonstrated outstanding leadership over a period of years in his or her field of learning or creative activity and have been recognized by peers for distinguished contributions to knowledge or distinguished creative work. The term of a George Lynn Cross Research Professor is continuous until retirement. —From facultyawards.ouhsc.edu
April 12, 2018
Mursalin was the Flash Talk Session 1 Winner at the OUHSC GREAT Symposium for his flash talk presentation of Contribution of S-Layer to the Pathogenesis of Bacillus Endophthalmitis. Congratulations Mursalin!!!
 |  |
 |
April 11, 2018
New publication! Coburn PS, Miller FC, LaGrow AL, Parkunan SM, Randall CB, Staats RL, Callegan MC. TLR4 modulates inflammatory gene targets in the retina during Bacillus cereus endophthalmitis. BMC Ophthalmology BOPH-D-17-00549R4 Accepted 4/3/18. Online 4/17/18.
April 6, 2018
Dr. Callegan presented Host/Pathogen Battles in Bacterial Intraocular Infections to Sophomore and Senior Biology students at Oklahoma Christian University.
March 30, 2018
Mursalin was awarded a Travel Grant to ASM Microbe 2018 in Atlanta. Congratulations Mursalin!!!
March 21, 2018
Erin was accepted as a 2018 NEI Vision Science Pre-Doctoral Trainee for the DMEI/OUHSC/OMRF Vision Science Training Program (T32)! Congratulations Erin!!!
March 14, 2018
Mursalin presented his first departmental seminar in Microbiology and Immunology. His seminar was titled Contribution of S-Layer to the Pathogenesis of Bacillus Endophthalmitis.
February 26, 2018
Dr. Callegan presented Host/Pathogen Battles in Bacterial Intraocular Infections at Oklahoma State University’s Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.
December 11, 2017
A figure from our recent mSphere paper was chosen as the Cover Image for November/December.
November 28, 2017
New Publication! LaGrow AL, Coburn PS, Miller FC, Land C, Parkunan SM, Luk BT, Gao W, Zhang L, Callegan MC. A novel biomimetic nanosponge protects the retina from the Enterococcus faecalis cytolysin. mSphere 2017;e00335-17.
November 22, 2017
Our new mSphere paper is featured in Science Daily.
American Society for Microbiology. “Nanosponges show promise for potentially blinding eye infections.” ScienceDaily, 22 November 2017.
November 7, 2017
Erin has been accepted as an NEI Vision Science Pre-Doctoral Trainee for the DMEI/OUHSC/OMRF Vision Science Training Program (T32)! Congratulations Erin!!!
September 29, 2017
At the 11th Annual OU Vision Student and Postdoctoral Fellow Workshop, Erin presented Characterization of PMN Dysfunction During Bacillus cereus Endophthalmitis and Mursalin presented Unconventional Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Agonists in Gram-positive Bacillus cereus.
August 10, 2017
Congratulations Mursalin on passing your General Exam!
July 2017
Our lab is featured in the spring/summer edition of OU Medicine.
June 9, 2017
An official welcome to the Summer Crew…Ty Dilley (OUHSC Medical Student), Austin LaGrow (OUHSC Medical Student), Melissa Penton (INBRE Student from East Central University), Parth Patel (Oklahoma School for Science and Math), Daniel Astley (Oklahoma Christian University), Caleb Astley (Deer Creek/Francis Tuttle), and Emma Howard (Edmond Memorial).
June 2-3, 2017
At ASM Microbe 2017 in New Orleans, Dr. Coburn presented A Novel Biomimetic Nanosponge Protects the Retina from the Enterococcus faecalis Cytolysin (Coburn, LaGrow, Miller, Luk, Zhang, Callegan), and Dr. Callegan presented Transcriptome Analysis of Bacillus cereus in Ocular and Laboratory Environments (Callegan, Coburn, Enty, Land, LaGrow, Miller).
May 26, 2017
New Publications photo: A portion of a heat map of the transcriptomes of B. cereus cultivated in ocular and laboratory environments. This data will be presented next week at ASM in New Orleans. Illumina MiSeq Next Gen sequencing was performed and data analyzed with the CLC Genomics Workbench (Qiagen) at the OUHSC Laboratory for Molecular Biology and Cytometry Research.
May 7, 2017
Dr. Coburn was a co-author on the following presentation: Bhatti F, Kassa N, Kung J, Coburn P. Effect of Surfactant Protein A on Retinal Cytokines and Microglia in Systemic Inflammation. Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2017 Annual Meeting, Baltimore MD.
May 5, 2017
Dr. Callegan presented Messaging Yourself: Increasing Your Visibility & Crafting Your Message and Maximizing Your MPG (Mission-Planning-Goals) at the Leadership Development Program for Women at the Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology 2017 Annual Meeting, Baltimore MD.
May 1, 2017
An official welcome to Erin Arroz, Graduate Student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, to the lab!
March 20, 2017
New Publication!
Callegan MC, Parkunan SM, Randall CB, Coburn PS, Miller FC, LaGrow AL, Astley RA, Land C, Oh S-Y, Schneewind O. The Role of Pili in Bacillus cereus Intraocular Infection. Exp Eye Res 159:69-76, 2017.
March 8, 2017
New News photo courtesy of Craig Land, Dr. Coburn, and the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation Imaging Core. Bacillus cereus flagella, 50,000X magnification.
February 8, 2017
Dr. Callegan presented Endogenous Endophthalmitis: The Beast Within at Asia-ARVO 2017 in Brisbane.
October 14, 2016
Mursalin presented Sex as a Biological Variable in Gram-Positive Endophthalmitis at the 10th Annual OU Vision Student & Postdoctoral Fellow Workshop.
September 20, 2016
Dr. Callegan presented Bacterial Endophthalmitis: BOB’s Your Uncle at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology’s Seminar Series
July 15, 2016
Sujana presented A Novel Biomimetic Nanosponge Protects the Retina from the Enterococcus faecalis Cytolysin at the Oklahoma IDeA Network for Biomedical Research Excellence (OK-INBRE) Summer Research Program’s final poster session.
July 13, 2016
We held our Lab Retreat today at the Oklahoma City Zoo Treehouse. Great meeting facilities. Everyone presented their summer projects and research plans for the next year. A little bit of Poke-hunting and a lot of great science at the OKC Zoo!
Dr. Miller, Mursalin, Daniel, Haley, Craig, Sujana, Austin, Dr. Coburn, Dr. Callegan, Morgan, and Roger.
June 12, 2016
New publication!
Parkunan SM, Randall CB, Astley RA, Furtado GC, Lira SA, Callegan MC. CXCL1, but not IL-6, significantly impacts intraocular inflammation during infection. J Leukocyte Biol 2016.
In press
June 1, 2016
An official welcome to the Summer Crew…Morgan Enty (OUHSC Medical Student), Victoria Smith (OUHSC Medical Student), Sujana Rupakheti (INBRE Student from Cameron University), Meghna Shankar (Baylor University), Daniel Astley, and Haley Callegan…and a bittersweet “see you later” (never goodbye!) to Dr. Madhu Parkunan and Nanette Wheatley Albrecht.
May 20, 2016
New publication!
Coburn PS, Wiskur BJ, Miller FC, LaGrow AL, Astley RA, Elliott MH, Callegan MC. Bloodstream-To-Eye Infections Are Facilitated by Outer Blood-Retinal Barrier Dysfunction. Plos One 2016.
In press
May 13-14, 2016
The typical Oklahoma stormy weather disrupted the graduation festivities in Norman on the 13th, but Madhu was hooded by Dr. Callegan the next day at the OUHSC Graduate College Convocation. Dr. Parkunan’s Ph.D. thesis is titled “Contribution of Host Innate Responses to the Pathogenesis of Bacillus cereus Endophthalmitis”. Her thesis contains her three first-author papers in 2014, 2015, and 2016. Congratulations Dr. Salai Madhumathi Arasi Parkunan!
May 5, 2016
New publication!
Astley RA, Coburn PS, Parkunan SM, Callegan MC. Modeling intraocular bacterial infections. Prog Retina Eye Res 2016.
In press online version
May 2, 2016
The following research was presented today at ARVO 2016 in Seattle:
Coburn PS, Miller FC, Land C, LaGrow AL, Callegan MC. Cereolysin O influences TLR4-dependent retinal gene expression during Bacillus cereus endophthalmitis.
Callegan MC, Coburn PS, Zhao H, Rybenkov VV. Role of Pseudomonas aeruginosa Condensins in Corneal Infection.
April 30, 2016
Dr. Callegan gave a talk entitled Mentorship and Sponsorship at the ARVO Women’s Leadership Development Program in Seattle.
April 28, 2016
Madhu successfully defended her Ph.D. Dissertation!
CONGRATULATIONS DR. PARKUNAN!
April 24, 2016
New publication! Parkunan SM and Callegan MC. The Pathogenesis of Bacterial Endophthalmitis. In Endophthalmitis, Durand, Miller, and Young eds. Springer International Publishing Switzerland. 2016
http://www.springer.com/jp/book/9783319292298
April 1, 2016
New publication in American Journal of Ophthalmology Case Reports
Venincasa VD, Callegan MC, Astley RA, Siatkowski RM. Contact Lens-related Polymicrobial Keratitis from Pantoea agglomerans and Escherichia vulneris. Am J Ophthalmol Case Rep (2016, in press). NIH Public Access Compliance: In process at NIHMS [NIHMS771299].
March 9, 2016
An official welcome to MD Huzzatul Mursalin, graduate student in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, to the lab!
March 2, 2016
Welcome to our new website!
The Callegan Lab 