Biography

Dr. Reese obtained her PhD from the University of California San Francisco where she studied in the lab of Dr. Richard Locksley.  Her graduate work was focused on studying the molecules that drive inflammation.  She made the observation that chitin, a ubiquitous biopolymer found in insects and plants, induces early inflammation of certain cell types associated with allergy and asthma. 

For her postdoctoral fellowship, Dr. Reese went to Washington University in St. Louis and worked in the lab of Dr. Herbert "Skip" W. Virgin.  There she investigated how the immune system regulates gamma-herpesvirus latency and reactivation.  She made the important discovery that infection with a helminth parasite can induce herpesvirus reactivation, and that immune cytokines generated during a parasitic infection are capable of inducing herpesvirus reactivation. 

In the spring of 2015, Dr. Reese joined the faculty at UTSW in the departments of Immunology and Microbiology.  Her lab is focused on understanding how the immune system regulates chronic viral infections, and how chronic infections alter immune responses to secondary challenges by other pathogens or by vaccines.  Her lab uses mouse and human models of herpesvirus infection, as well as other viruses and helminth parasites. 

Research Interest

  • co-infection
  • herpesviruses
  • Host-pathogen interaction
  • immunology
  • virology

Publications

Featured Publications LegendFeatured Publications

Co-infections: Another Variable in the Herpesvirus Latency-Reactivation Dynamic.
Reese TA J. Virol. 2016 Apr
Autophagy Genes Enhance Murine Gammaherpesvirus 68 Reactivation from Latency by Preventing Virus-Induced Systemic Inflammation.
Park S, Buck MD, Desai C, Zhang X, Loginicheva E, Martinez J, Freeman ML, Saitoh T, Akira S, Guan JL, He YW, Blackman MA, Handley SA, Levine B, Green DR, Reese TA, Artyomov MN, Virgin HW Cell Host Microbe 2016 Jan 19 1 91-101
Phenotypic complementation of genetic immunodeficiency by chronic herpesvirus infection.
MacDuff DA, Reese TA, Kimmey JM, Weiss LA, Song C, Zhang X, Kambal A, Duan E, Carrero JA, Boisson B, Laplantine E, Israel A, Picard C, Colonna M, Edelson BT, Sibley LD, Stallings CL, Casanova JL, Iwai K, Virgin HW Elife 2015 4
Latent gammaherpesvirus 68 infection induces distinct transcriptional changes in different organs.
Canny SP, Goel G, Reese TA, Zhang X, Xavier R, Virgin HW J. Virol. 2014 Jan 88 1 730-8
Pervasive transcription of a herpesvirus genome generates functionally important RNAs.
Canny SP, Reese TA, Johnson LS, Zhang X, Kambal A, Duan E, Liu CY, Virgin HW MBio 2014 5 2 e01033-13
Identification of novel microRNA-like molecules generated from herpesvirus and host tRNA transcripts.
Reese TA, Xia J, Johnson LS, Zhou X, Zhang W, Virgin HW J. Virol. 2010 Oct 84 19 10344-53
Latent herpesvirus infection arms NK cells.
White DW, Keppel CR, Schneider SE, Reese TA, Coder J, Payton JE, Ley TJ, Virgin HW, Fehniger TA Blood 2010 Jun 115 22 4377-83

Honors & Awards

  • Damon Runyon Postdoctoral Fellowship
    (2009-2012)
  • National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship
    (2002-2005)