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Derrick Samuelson
  • ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, DEPARTMENT OF INTERNAL MEDICINE; University of Nebraska Medical Center

derrick.samuelson@unmc.edu

402-559-8834

The research in the Samuelson lab focuses on elucidating the mechanisms by which the intestinal microbiota regulates disease progression and severity both locally and in distal organ systems. His long-standing research interest is in understanding the mechanisms by which the intestinal microbiota facilitates pulmonary host defense against bacterial pneumonia, with a specific focus on understanding the deleterious effects of alcohol misuse on the gut-lung axis. His lab was the first to show that; (1) alcohol-associated intestinal dysbiosis, independent of prevailing alcohol consumption, impairs pulmonary host defense to bacterial pneumonia, (2) alcohol-associated intestinal microbial products contributes, in part, to epithelial permeability and inflammation, as well as peripheral immune activation, and (3) that treatment of alcohol-associated dysbiosis with the bacterial metabolite, indole, mitigates the increased risk for bacterial pneumonia associated with alcohol consumption. Recently, his lab has begun investigating the mechanisms by which the intestinal microbiota regulates inflammatory bowel disease progression and severity, which a specific interest in understanding the role of gut-derived bacterial metallophores in IBD.

Featured Publications

Cunningham, K.C., Smith, DR, Villageliú, D.N., Ellis, C.M., Ramer-Tait, A.E., Price, J.D., Wyatt, T.A., Knoell, D.L., Samuelson, M.M., Molina, P.E., Welsh, D.A, Samuelson, D.R. Human Alcohol-Microbiota Mice have Increased Susceptibility to Bacterial Pneumonia. Cells. 2023; 12(18):2267. https://doi.org/10.3390/cells12182267.

Samuelson, D.R., Smith, D.R., Cunningham, K.C., Haq, S., Villageliú, D.N., Ellis, C.M., Chowdhury, N.B., Ramer-Tait, A.E., Price, J.D., Knoell, D.L. The Inherited Intestinal Microbiota from Myeloid-Specific ZIP8KO Mice Impairs Pulmonary Host Defense against Pneumococcal Pneumonia. Pathogens. 2023; 12(5):639. https://doi.org/10.3390/pathogens12050639.

Samuelson, D.R., Smith, D.R., Cunningham, K.C., Wyatt, T.A., Hall, S.C., Murry, D.J., Chhonker, Y.S., Knoell, D.L. (2022) ZIP8-Mediated Intestinal Dysbiosis Impairs Pulmonary Host Defense against Bacterial Pneumonia. International Journal of Molecular Sciences, 23, no. 3: 1022. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms23031022.

Samuelson, D.R., Gu, M., Shellito, J.E., Molina, P.E., Taylor C.M., Meng L., Welsh, D.A. (2021) Pulmonary Immune Cell Trafficking Promotes Host Defense against Alcohol-Associated Klebsiella Pneumonia. Communications Biology. 4 (997). https://doi.org/10.1038/s42003-021-02524-0.

Samuelson, D.R., Haq, S., Knoell, D.L. Divalent Metal Uptake and the Role of ZIP8 in Host Defense Against Pathogens, Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology, 10:924820, (2022). https://doi.org/10.3389/fcell.2022.924820.