Spencer Lab
Welcome to the Spencer Lab, led by John David Spencer, MD, a physician-scientist at Nationwide Children’s Hospital and The Ohio State University College of Medicine. The objective of the Spencer Lab is to define the role of innate immunity and antimicrobial peptides in the regulation and prevention of urinary tract infection (UTI). Specifically, the Spencer Lab focuses on the function and regulation of antimicrobial proteins in the Ribonuclease A Superfamily.
Our ongoing research has demonstrated that peptides in this family play an important role in shielding the host from invading uropathogens. These findings are significant because treatment strategies for acute and recurrent UTI are limited. Moreover, antibiotic resistance in pathogenic bacteria is increasing and antibiotics are subsequently becoming less effective. By identifying how antimicrobial peptides prevent UTI, we can begin to develop them as alternatives to antibiotics.
As we have characterized the function and expression of antimicrobial peptides, our research group has identified the bladder urothelium and kidney collecting duct as key sources of their production. To do so, the laboratory uses complementary approaches, combining cellular biology, physiology, genomics, and biochemistry with human biospecimens, cell cultures, and genetically modified mouse models to elucidate the roles of antimicrobial peptides in the kidney’s collecting duct and bladder urothelium.
Dr. Spencer considers the training of students, trainees, and junior faculty as the highest priority and have established a record of mentoring trainees in rigorous and reproducible research. He trained five gap year students and/or medical students who published high-impact papers before starting medical school. Also, he has mentored six pediatric nephrology fellows and a graduate student on translational research projects. He mentored a nephrologist supported by an NIH F32 award, a K08 funded urologist, and two PhD faculty with K01 awards. The Spencer laboratory is staffed by a gender equal team consisting of an infectious disease fellow, two post docs, three technicians, and a junior faculty member. We have many trainees rotating through the lab and have thus established a collaborative and friendly training environment.
