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Before joining Fort Lewis, Dr. Blake was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University, researching the role of Nrf2 in Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD). His laboratory focuses on the cellular events within pulmonary macrophages and epithelial cells that alter the antioxidant/oxidative balance in cells and the immunological changes induced by environmental toxins, particulates, and pathogens. His laboratory also identifies new natural compounds that inhibit the growth of infectious human pathogens such as Leishmaniasis donovani (eukaryotic parasite) or Varicella zoster (viral pathogen).
Over the past 16 years, Dr. Blake has advised over 120 undergraduate and six high school/middle school students. Some of his Fort Lewis student researchers have worked under the National Institute of General Medical Sciences-Maximizing Access to Research Careers (MARC) U-STAR program. Many past graduates have gone on to graduate or medical school after FLC. Dr. Blake is also interested in environmental toxicology and has taught an environmental health and disease course in Costa Rica through the University Studies Abroad Consortium. Dr. Blake received the FLC Skyhawk Award (2012 and 2016) and the Health and Environmental Sciences Institute Immunotoxicology Young Investigator Travel Award (2012).
Summary: This project aims to create a novel microfluidic lung-on-a-chip device that utilizes the unique properties of porous silicon and leverages precision biomaterials and biomanufacturing techniques to better mimic the structural composition of the lung in vitro. The proposed research is relevant to public health because developing a fully organic lung-on-a-chip device will have positive translational outcomes in preventing and treating a wide range of inflammatory and fibrotic pulmonary diseases. Funding: SC3 SCORE grant, NIGMS, $410K; Faculty Pilot project, BLaST, NIGMS, $60K; PEAQS Functional Nanomaterials grant, NSF, $15K Publications: Novel Fabrication Approach of a Porous Silicon Biocompatible Membrane Evaluated within an Alveolar Coculture Model, . The lab group is comprised of 3 senior FLC undergraduate students.
ASBMB 2025 lab presenters
Summary: Treatments for leishmaniasis, a debilitating and neglected tropical disease caused by these protozoan parasites, are highly toxic, not well tolerated by patients, and are increasingly ineffective due to drug-resistant strains. Intensive work to identify small molecules with a high potency against the parasite that causes leishmaniasis with minimal toxicity to patients is urgently needed. We hypothesize that a natural product found in broccoli, sulforaphane, will inhibit intracellular Leishmania replication in human macrophages by modifying autophagic flux in cells. Funding: Faculty Pilot project, BLaST, NIGMS $60K; Society of Toxicology, Faculty Research grant, $2K; U-RISE, Fort Lewis College (Kai Brantley) Publications: Improved synthesis of deoxyalpinoid B and quantification of antileishmanial activity of deoxyalpinoid B and sulforaphane, Bioorganic and Medicinal Chemistry, . Lab groups consist of four seniors, two juniors, and one high school student.
Li, C., Narayanan, D., Barreca, M., Poulsen, C., Silva Da Costa, L., Chen, X., Wickman, K.*, Charley, C.*†, Lindsay, J.*, Dezfouli, M., Chan, C.B., Richardson, W., Zang, J., Gajhede, M., Bullock, A.N., Blake, D.J., Olagnier, D., and Bach, A., 2025. Fragment-Based Drug Discovery of Novel High-affinity, Selective, and Anti-inflammatory Inhibitors of the Keap1-Nrf2 Protein-Protein Interaction. Angewandte Chemie Int. Ed. (ACIE). In press.
Williams, M.A.†*, Wiens, C.*, Genc, S.*, Thompson, S.*, Gislason, L.*, Blake, D.J., Jessing, J., 2025. Fabrication of a Novel Porous Silicon Biomembrane for Applications in Organ-on-Chip Technology. Biomedical Microdevices. In press.
"Novel Fabrication Approach of a Porous Silicon Biocompatible Membrane Evaluated within a Alveolar Coculture Model." 2022. .
"Synthesis and characterization of novel caffeic acid derivatives against Paenibacillus larvae." Journal of Invertebrate Pathology. 2019.
"Synthesis and characterization of trans-dichlorotetrakis(imidazole)cobalt(III) chloride: a new cobalt(III) coordination complex with potential prodrug properties." Bioinorganic Chemistry and Applications. 2018.
"Ablation of the CD9 receptor in Human Lung Cancer Cells using CRISPR/Cas alters Migration to Chemoattractants including IL-16." Cytokine. 2018.
"Soluble extracellular Klotho decreases sensitivity to cigarette smoke-induced cell death in human lung epithelial cells," Toxicology in Vitro, 29(7), pp. 1647–1652, 2015.