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Researchers with East Tennessee State University’s Quillen College of Medicine have secured more than $5 million in federal funding this year to research sepsis, a life-threatening condition that arises when the body’s immune response to an infection causes injury to tissue and organs. 

In total, Drs. Chuanfu Li (Department of Surgery) and Xiaohui Wang (Department of Biomedical Sciences), received $5.17 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease and National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. 

Renowned for its commitment and dedication to training physicians to practice in rural and underserved areas, the Quillen College of Medicine has also made its mark as a research institution – regularly receiving significant grant funding to investigate health issues affecting those in the region and beyond.  

Li’s research seeks to better understand how lactate affects immune cells called macrophages during sepsis infection. Increased lactate levels can be a predictor of the severity of sepsis, but it is not clear whether lactate levels continue to impact the graveness of immune dysfunction and infectious comorbidities. 

“Successful completion of the proposed studies will yield a wealth of new and novel data, highlighting the crucial and previously undiscovered role of lactate in the regulation of immune responses during sepsis,” said Li.   

Li is a professor in the Department of Surgery and a member of the Center of Excellence in Inflammation, Infectious Disease and Immunity. 

Wang’s research, meanwhile, is aimed at better understanding the role liver sinusoidal endothelial cells (LESCs) – critical in maintaining the liver’s immune and metabolic functions – play in bacterial infection and sepsis. 

Patients with liver conditions such as non-alcoholic steatohepatitis or cirrhosis are at increased risk of bacterial infections and sepsis, and their research suggests severe changes to LESCs may lead to liver immune and metabolic dysfunction, making them more prone to infection. 

“By clarifying these mechanisms, the findings could provide valuable insights into potential therapeutic targets, improving outcomes for patients,” said Wang, an assistant professor in the college. “I would like to express my gratitude to Dr. Chuanfu Li and Dr. David L. Williams in the Department of Surgery for their invaluable support and guidance. 

“I also wish to extend my appreciation to our lab members, Tingting Li, Joseph Adams, Amy Gail Gravitte and Peilin Zhu, whose hard work and dedication have been crucial to our research projects.”