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Address: Thomas W. Keating Bioresearch Building, Rm 339
1657 E. Helen Street
Tucson, AZ 85719
Phone: (520) 626-2567
E-Mail: donata@arc.arizona.edu

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Research Interests

The central theme of the Functional Genomics Laboratory is the characterization of the mechanisms through which natural variation in immune genes contributes to the pathogenesis of complex diseases, with special emphasis on respiratory disorders such as allergic inflammation and asthma. The approach taken is to assess the impact of genetic polymorphisms on the function and regulation of specific genes, focusing on those shown to be strongly associated with allergic inflammation and asthma phenotypes (Vercelli 2008). The genes currently under study are IL13, TLR2 and CD14. The laboratory evaluates how coding region polymorphisms result in the expression of proteins with altered biological properties (Vladich et al. 2005). Complementary studies test the effect of genetic variation on transcriptional regulation and mRNA stability (LeVan et al. 2001; Cameron et al. 2006, Kiesler et al. 2009). A combination of biochemical purification and functional analysis is used to identify transcription factors that bind differentially to polymorphic alleles (Kiesler et al. 2009). The lab is also investigating the basic epigenetic mechanisms that regulate gene expression (Webster et al. 2007) and the elements involved in gene regulation using a combination of phylogenetic and functional analyses (Strempel et al. 2007, Kiesler et al. 2010, Strempel et al. 2010).

More recently, the lab started conducting genome-wide analyses of DNA methylation and gene expression patterns in relation to specific environmental exposures and genotypes. This work relies on comprehensive genetic databases generated at the Arizona Respiratory Center by resequencing innate and adaptive immunity genes in a large panel of reference DNA samples of known ethnicity as well as in populations of defined allergic disease phenotypes. Current work involves the generation of BAC transgenic mice to model alternative haplotypes of the genes of interest and study their expression, epigenetic regulation and phenotypic correlates in vivo. The ultimate goal of the Functional Genomics Lab is to establish a new paradigm merging analysis of genetic and environmental determinants of disease, functional studies and patient phenotypes in order to understand the causes of disease and predict responsiveness to specific treatments.

Full Biosketch

Dr. Vercelli received her MD from the University of Florence in 1978. After training in Hematology and Immunology/Allergy, she became a Research Fellow in the Division of Immunology at Children’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School in 1986, and an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School in 1991. In 1994 she moved to Milan to lead the Molecular Immunoregulation Unit at San Raffaele Scientific Institute, but returned to the US in 1999, joining the Arizona Respiratory Center at the University of Arizona. Dr. Vercelli is currently a Professor of Cell Biology at the University of Arizona, the Associate Director of the Arizona Respiratory Center, and the Director of the Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD).

Dr. Vercelli’s research focuses on the molecular mechanisms that regulate allergic inflammation in humans. More recently, she became interested in the impact of genetic variation on gene expression and function in allergic disease. Dr. Vercelli’s research is well recognized.  She received the Pharmacia Allergy Research Foundation Award (1989), the Burroughs Wellcome Fund Developing Investigator Award (1991), the Developing Investigator Award of the Asthma & Allergy Foundation of America (1989), and the Women Physician in Allergy Award from the AAAAI (2001). Furthermore, she received the 14^th Kwasman Memorial Lectureship for Asthma Research from the University of Rochester (2001), the Alec Sehon Distinguished Professorship in Immunology from the University of Manitoba (2002), and the Burton Zweiman Lectureship from the American Academy of Allergy, Asthma and Immunology (2003).  In 2006, Dr. Vercelli organized and chaired the Keystone Symposium on “Allergy, Allergic Inflammation and Asthma” and was named Chair of the NHLBI Gene-Environment Interaction Working Group. In 2007, she joined the International Scientific Advisory Board of the GABRIEL European Project on Gene-Environment Interactions and in 2009, she became a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Pittsburgh Asthma Institute. In 2010, she was elected to membership in the Association of American Physicians (AAP).  Dr. Vercelli is an Associate Editor for the Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology and The Journal of Immunology.

Center Affiliations

Director, Arizona Center for the Biology of Complex Diseases (ABCD),
Arizona Research Laboratories
Associate Director, Arizona Respiratory Center

Selected Publications

Finkelman FD, Boyce JA, Vercelli D, Rothenberg ME. Feb 2010. Key advances in mechanisms of asthma, allergy, and immunology in 2009. J Allergy Clin Immunol, 125:312-8

Maier RM, Palmer MW, Andersen GL, Halonen MJ, Josephson KC, Maier RS, Martinez FD, Neilson JW, Stern DA, Vercelli D, Wright AL. Feb 2010. The Bacterial Community in Household Dust: Environmental Determinants and Impact on Childhood Asthma. Appl Environ Microbiol,2010 Feb 12;

Vercelli D. Jan 2010. Gene-environment interactions in asthma and allergy: the end of the beginning?. Curr Opin Allergy Clin Immunol,2010 Jan 2;