Misson Statement
Dr. Peter J. Gaskill
Our research explores the immunomodulatory effects of neurotransmitters, addictive drugs and neuropsychiatric therapeutics in neurological and inflammatory disease. Currently, our projects focus on the impact of dopamine on HIV replication and associated inflammation in the brain and other organs. These studies focus on macrophages, one of the principal targets for HIV in many organ systems. We mainly use primary human macrophages from blood and tissues as well as iPSC-derived macrophages and microglia. The majority of our experiments use high-content imaging to perform unbiased, high-throughput analysis of large, heterogenous cell populations and molecular targets in response to many distinct stimuli. Combining these high content analyses with molecular and cell biology techniques enables us to focus specifically on the molecular mechanisms regulating the involvement of myeloid cells in disease processes. Our current projects a) examine the impact of stimulants and benzodiazepines on HIV infection in macrophages and microglia, b) evaluate differences in HIV infection of syngeneic macrophages and microglia, c) examine the effects of co-infection and stimulants on HIV infection in liver and lung macrophages, d) examine the impact of dopamine on macrophage function and e) examine the impact of HIV infection on neuronal function in syngeneic co-cultures of iPSC-derived microglia and dopamine neurons.
Gaskill Lab News
March 2024
Amazing, amazing, amazing job by Breana Channer defending her dissertation entitled ""Evaluating TLR4 and Dopamine Mediated Inflammatory Responses in Human Macrophages Across Distinct Culture and Serum Conditions." We are incredibly proud and impressed with her work !!!
February 2024
Congratulations to both Tofunmi and Marzieh, who both received travel awards to attend and present at the Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in Nebraska this June!!!
January 2024
We are excited to welcome masters students Michel Kane-Jackson and Stephanie Kosashvili to our lab group
December 2024
Go Tofunmi!!! She received the Mary Shaw Travel award from the Department of Pharmacology and Physiology at Drexel University College of Medicine!!!!
So proud of both Breana and Marzieh, who received travel awards to attend ASPET in Portland in 2025!!!!
November 2024
Gaskill lab showcased our work at Discovery Day and the Mid-Atlantic Pharmacology Society (MAPS) this year. Congratulations to Tofunmi, who received honorable mention at Discovery Day!!!
Incredibly excited to show off Breana Channers recent work on how "Culture Media and Serum Conditions Alter Primary Human Macrophage Morphology and Inflammatory Function" currently out as a preprint.
September 2024
Congratulations to Tofunmi, who won the senior graduate student poster competition at Gliadelphia!!!!
August 2024
Tremendously proud and excited to announce that Breana Channer received her F30 fellowship to study how "Dopaminergic immunomodulation drives macrophage inflammation during HIV infection." Go Breana!!!!
July 2024
Incredibly proud of Marzieh Daniali, who passed her qualifying exam !!!
Our collaboration with Dr. Schlachetzki on "Gene expression and chromatin conformation of microglia in virally suppressed people with HIV" was published in Life Science Alliance. .
June 2024
Congratulations to Yash Agarwal, who absolutely crushed his qualifying exam !!!
Dr. Stephanie Matt published her extensive study on the influence of specific dopamine receptors on IL-1b expression in different types of myeloid cells as a preprint, with the full publication coming soon!!!
May 2024
Tofunmi Oteju wins 3rd place in the Neuropharmacology Division Poster competition at ASPET 2024
Dr. Gaskill is approved for tenure at Drexel University.
Congratulations to our recent graduates, Dr. Teresa Lupone and Dayna Robinson, who will be recognized at Drexel University College of Medicines Commencement celebration on May 9th.
Dr. Matt is presenting her work on "Myeloid Inflammation and Viral Infection in the Context of Comorbid HIV and Depression" at the NIMH seminar series on May 8th
Our recent review "Dopamine, Immunity and Disease" - led by Breana Channer and Dr. Stephanie Matt - is honored as a highly cited paper at Drexels Annual Celebrating Drexel Authors event !!
April 2024
Tofunmi, was selected to give an oral presentation at the Philadelphia Society for Neuroscience meeting here at Drexel on April 19th!!! Way to go Tofunmi!!!
March 2024
Tofumni Oteju, Breana Channer and Marzieh Daniali all gave incredible oral presentations at thethe 2024 Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology meeting in Charleston, South Carolina!!! Breann spoke during a symposium on "Immune-dopaminergic interactions in neurological disorders", while Marzieh and Tofunmi both spoke at the student oral showcase session.
Dr. Gaskill submitted a multi-PI R01 with Drs. Barker and Schlachetzki on Cross-model investigation on the role of inflammasomes in the neurobehavioral and transcriptomic effects of cocaine exposure and HIV infection
Tofunmi Oteju was selected to present her work on the effect of cocaine on HIV infection on microglia at the Merck Student Showcase!!!
January 2024
Congratulations again to Tofunmi, who received a Travel Award to attend the 2024 American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics meeting in May!!
Congratulations to both Tofunmi and Marzieh for receiving a Travel Awards and oral presentations for the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in in Charleston this March!!
Welcome to our new rotation students, Elizabeth Homer and Aarohee Bhattarai, we are thrilled for you to join our group!!
December 2023
Congratulations Breana for receiving a Deans' travel Award to attend the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in March!!!
Dr. Gaskill chaired a great symposium on "neuro"-immunomodulation at the 5th annual Immunomodulation and Engineering Symposium at Drexel.
November 2023
Dr. Gaskill and Dr. Marcondes proposal for a symposium on "Immune-dopaminergic interactions in neurological disorders” was accepted and will be featured at the upcoming Society for Neuroimmune Pharmacology Meeting in Charleston!!!
October 2023
Huge congratulations to Teresa, who successfully defended her thesis "Development of a High Throughput High Content Imaging Viral Titer Assay to Investigate the Effect of Substance Misuse on HIV-1 Replicative Dynamics in hMDMs" !!!
Congratulations to Alexis for resubmitting her F31!!!
Incredibly thrilled to be heading the Drexel portion of a newly funded collaborative R61 led by Drs. Cagla Espinoza, Kelly Jordan This project will develop new multimodal profiling pipelines to better define the role of microglia in HIV neuropathogenesis during substance misuse.
September 2023
Huge congratulations to Tofumi, who absolutely crushed her qualifying exam this month !!!
Breana resubmitted her F30, congratulations!!
August 2023
Was a relatively quiet month ... would that we had more like this one.
July 2023
Congratulations to Dayna Robinson on her successful defense of her thesis entitled "Defining The Signaling Mechanisms By Which Dopamine Stimulates Akt Activation in Primary Human Macrophages."'
Congratulations to Dr. Stephanie Matt on her promotion to Research Assistant Professor!!!
Joanna Canagarajah, a former lab member who is now in Ross medical school, won first place for her research presentation of the the data she generated working in the Gaskill lab from 2021 - 2022. Congratulations Joanna!!!