Professor of Medicine
Director, Lung Biology Center
School of Medicine
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine
University of California
San Francisco, CA 94143-0844
dean.sheppard@ucsf.edu
415-206-5901 Fax: 415-206-4123
Lung Biology Center
Dean Sheppard's home page
 
Creative Achievements
• Discovered extreme sensitivity of people with asthma to sulfur dioxide pollution.
• Identified crucial role of extracellular matrix receptors in lung inflammation and fibrosis.
 
Current Research Interests
• Use of mouse genetics to identify mechanisms of asthma and lung fibrosis
• Use of DNA arrays to identify same
• Role of extracellular matrix, matrix receptors in tissue response to injury
 
Key Publications
• Pittet JF, Griffiths MJD, Geiser T, Kaminski N, Dalton SL, Huang X, Brown LAS, Gotwals PJ, Koetiansky VE, Matthay MA, Sheppard D. 2001. TGFb is a critical mediator of acute lung injury. J Clin Invest 107:1529-36.
• Young BA, Taooka Y, Liu S, Askins J, Yokosaki Y, Thomas SM, Sheppard D. 2001. The cytoplasmic domain of the integrin a9 subunit requires the adaptor protein paxillin to inhibit cell spreading but promotes cell migration in a paxillin-independent manner. Mol Biol Cell 12:3214-25.
• Munger JS, Huang XZ , Kawakatsu H , Griffiths MJD, Dalton SL, Wu JF, Pittet JF, Kaminiski N, Garat C, Matthay MA, Rifkin DB, Sheppard D. 1999. The integrin avß6 binds and activates latent TGFb1: a mechanism for regulating pulmonary inflammation and fibrosis. Cell 96:319-28.
• Taaoka, Y, Chen J, Yednock T,Sheppard D. 1999. The integrin a9ß1 mediates adhesion to activated endothelial cells and trans-endothelial neutrophil migration through interaction with vascular cell adhesion molecule 1. J Cell Biol 145:413-20.
• Kaminiski N, Allard J, Pittet JF, Zuo F, Griffiths MJD, Morris D, Huang XZ, Sheppard D, Heller RA. 2000. Global analysis of gene expression in pulmonary fibrosis reveals distinct programs regulating lung inflammation and remodeling. Proc Nat Acad Sci 97:1778-83.
• Yokasaki Y, Matsuura N, Higashiyama S, Murakami M, Obara M, Yamakido M, Shigeto N, Chen J, Sheppard D. 1998. Identification of the ligand binding site for the integrin a9ß 1 in the third fibronectin type III repeat of tenascin-C. J Biol Chem 273:11423-28.
• Huang XZ, Wu JF, Cass D, Erle DJ, Corry D, Young SG, Farese RV Jr., Sheppard D. 1996. Inactivation of the ß6 subunit gene reveals a role of epithelial integrins in regulating inflammation in the lungs and skin. J Cell Biol 133:921-28.
 
Teaching
• Tissue Biology (Biomedical Science Graduate Program, UCSF)
 
Public and University Service
• Director, Lung Biology Center
• Associate chair for biomedical research, Department of Medicine, UCSF