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Program in Cancer Biology

Alain P. Gobert, Ph.D.

Research Associate Professor, Wilson Lab

Dr. Gobert has a particular interest in the study of host/pathogen interactions and has significant experience in the study of nitrosative stress as a mediator of the immune response. After a PhD in Chemistry from the University of Bordeaux, France, Dr. Gobert completed postdoctoral training at the University of Maryland, Baltimore, where he conducted research on the role and the regulation of nitric oxide (NO) during infectious diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. More particularly, his work uncovered the essential role of arginine metabolism in the control of H. pylori infection, inflammation and gastric cancer. He was then awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from The Pasteur Institute in Paris, France, to pursue his research on the inflammation associated with the gastric pathogen Helicobacter pylori. He began his independent research program at the French National Institute for Agricultural Research in 2003 where he and his group highlighted the molecular mechanisms by which NO regulates cellular attachment and toxin production by intestinal pathogenic bacteria. After a three-year sabbatical in the Division of Gastroenterology at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Dr. Gobert is now joining the new Center for Mucosal Inflammation and Cancer headed by Pr. Keith T. Wilson. His work will yield important insights into how pathogen-induced inflammation leads to carcinogenesis and will have directly translatable utility in therapeutic strategies to treat gastric cancer.