Katharine Magor

Associate Professor

Phone: 780-492-5498
Fax: (780) 492-9234
Email: kathy.magor@ualberta.ca
Office: CW326 Biological Sciences
Office Hours: Automatically added by the system
Address: University of Alberta
CW326 Biological Sciences
Edmonton, AB
Canada T6G 2E9
Current Research Interests
My interest in comparative immunology is in both its practical applications to farming and its potential for contribution to our understanding of fundamental immunology. I study the genes involved in anti-viral defense in birds.

Ongoing projects:
Ducks are the primary host of influenza virus. They can be infected with all strains of influenza, and most cause them little harm. Understanding how the duck successfully clears the virus may identify new strategies to prime our immune defenses.

MHC class I gene organization and diversity in ducks
We showed that the organization of the MHC class I region in ducks has functional implications for severe limitation of the nature of the antigens that can be transported and presented in ducks (Mesa et al., 2004; Moon et al., 2005). This helps us understand the weak memory responses that allow ducks to be continually re-infected with influenza viruses. We are also examining the genetic diversity of the MHC genes in wild mallards. Some allelic variants of these genes may be better at defense against influenza or other viruses.


Christine Mesa-collecting blood from wild mallards

Antiviral pattern recognition receptors of ducks.
Detection of viral RNA by TLR7 is essential for interferon-alpha production by plasmacytoid dendritic cells in response to influenza virus. To determine the function of duck TLR7, we tested whether duck cells could respond to TLR7 ligands. Stimulation of duck immune cells with TLR7 agonists efficiently upregulated genes encoding proinflammatory cytokines and interferon-alpha (IFNa). It is very significant that the TLR7 pathway to interferon-alpha production is intact in ducks, since it does not always work in chickens (MacDonald et al., 2008).

Immune gene discovery through genomics projects
We use expressed sequence tag (EST) projects to discover immune relevant genes. In a pilot project we sequenced 3300 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). Of these, more than 240 are immune relevant (Xia et al., 2007) . We are particularly interested in genes that allow us to manipulate immune responses through dendritic cell function, since this is key to successful vaccination . Two ESTs encoded DCIR and DCAR. DCIR is an endocytic receptor on dendritic cells that influences antigen presentation. The closest mammalian homologue of DCAR is BDCA-2, which controls the interferon response. We have sequenced a duck genomic clone containing DCIR, and two DCAR genes to clarify the identity of the genes and examine the evolutionary history of the locus (Guo et al., 2008).

Genes expressed in antiviral defenses against highly pathogenic avian influenza.
In an international collaboration, we will compare genes expressed in response to highly pathogenic avian influenza versus low pathogenic strains using high throughput 454 platform sequencing. Expression of selected genes involved in antiviral responses will be characterized by real-time PCR.


Working with H5N1 avian influenza
in Biosafety Level 3


Lab members January 2009