Lab Information
Donald Sheppard (MD)
Senior ScientistCentre for Translational Biology
Department of Microbiology & Immunology (McGill)
Research Profile
Keywords
Medical mycology • aspergillus • biofilms • host-pathogen interactionsResearch Interests
My research focuses on understanding how molds and other fungi cause human disease. Recently, our laboratory discovered that fungi secrete sugars that can act as a glue in order to help fungi attach to human lung cells and hide from the immune system during lung infections. My research focuses on fungi that infect humans. In particular, we focus on the common mold Aspergillus fumigatus, which causes pneumonia in patients who have received chemotherapy, organ transplantation, bone marrow transplantation or high dose cortisone therapy. Despite the use of current antifungal drugs, this pneumonia is fatal for more than half the affected patients. Our group is working to identify how this fungus invades human tissues in order to develop new, more effective antifungal therapies to prevent and cure this aggressive and common condition.Team Members
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Latest Publications
- Raju, D., Turner, S. A., Castro, K., Whitfield, G. B., Lamarche, D., Mahajan, S., Pfoh, R., Chuang, S. H., Le Mauff, F., Joe, M., Sarkar, S., Lowary, T. L., Sheppard, D. C., Wozniak, D. J., Surette, M. G. & Howell, P. L. (2025). Auto-aggregation in Streptococcus intermedius is driven by the Pel polysaccharide. mBio, p. e0119625.
- Van Loon, J. C., Le Mauff, F., Vargas, M. A., Gilbert, S., Pfoh, R., Morrison, Z. A., Razvi, E., Nitz, M., Sheppard, D. C. & Howell, P. L. (2025). Structural and functional analysis of Pseudomonas aeruginosa PelA provides insight into the modification of the Pel exopolysaccharide. The Journal of biological chemistry, p. 108432.
- Case, N. T., Gurr, S. J., Fisher, M. C., Blehert, D. S., Boone, C., Casadevall, A., Chowdhary, A., Cuomo, C. A., Currie, C. R., Denning, D. W., Ene, I. V., Fritz-Laylin, L. K., Gerstein, A. C., Gow, N. A. R., Gusa, A., Iliev, I. D., James, T. Y., Jin, H., Kahmann, R., Klein, B. S., Kronstad, J. W., Ost, K. S., Peay, K. G., Shapiro, R. S., Sheppard, D. C., Shlezinger, N., Stajich, J. E., Stukenbrock, E. H., Taylor, J. W., Wright, G. D., Cowen, L. E., Heitman, J. & Segre, J. A. (2025). Fungal impacts on Earth's ecosystems. Nature, vol. 638, p. 49-57.
- Heilig, L., Natasha, F., Trinks, N., Aimanianda, V., Wong, S. S. W., Fontaine, T., Terpitz, U., Strobel, L., Le Mauff, F., Sheppard, D. C., Schäuble, S., Kurzai, O., Hünniger, K., Weiss, E., Vargas, M., Howell, P. L., Panagiotou, G., Wurster, S., Einsele, H. & Loeffler, J. (2024). CD56-mediated activation of human natural killer cells is triggered by Aspergillus fumigatus galactosaminogalactan. PLoS pathogens, vol. 20, p. e1012315.
- Liu, H., Lin, J., Phan, Q. T., Gravelat, F. N., Sheppard, D. C. & Filler, S. G. (2023). Use of a human small airway epithelial cell line to study the interactions of Aspergillus fumigatus with pulmonary epithelial cells. mSphere, p. e0031423.
- Millette, P.-G., Chabot, J., Sheppard, D. C. & Le Mauff, F. (2023). Identification and Quantification of Monosaccharides from Fungal Cell Walls and Exopolysaccharides by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Mass Spectrometry. Current protocols, vol. 3, p. e853.
- Razvi, E., Whitfield, G. B., Reichhardt, C., Dreifus, J. E., Willis, A. R., Gluscencova, O. B., Gloag, E. S., Awad, T. S., Rich, J. D., da Silva, D. P., Bond, W., Le Mauff, F., Sheppard, D. C., Hatton, B. D., Stoodley, P., Reinke, A. W., Boulianne, G. L., Wozniak, D. J., Harrison, J. J., Parsek, M. R. & Howell, P. L. (2023). Glycoside hydrolase processing of the Pel polysaccharide alters biofilm biomechanics and Pseudomonas aeruginosa virulence. NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, vol. 9, p. 7.
- Le Mauff, F. & Sheppard, D. C. (2023). Understanding Aspergillus fumigatus galactosaminogalactan biosynthesis: A few questions remain. Cell surface (Amsterdam, Netherlands), vol. 9, p. 100095.
- Sarden, N., Sinha, S., Potts, K. G., Pernet, E., Hiroki, C. H., Hassanabad, M. F., Nguyen, A. P., Lou, Y., Farias, R., Winston, B. W., Bromley, A., Snarr, B. D., Zucoloto, A. Z., Andonegui, G., Muruve, D. A., McDonald, B., Sheppard, D. C., Mahoney, D. J., Divangahi, M., Rosin, N., Biernaskie, J. & Yipp, B. G. (2022). A B1a-natural IgG-neutrophil axis is impaired in viral- and steroid-associated aspergillosis. Science translational medicine, vol. 14, p. eabq6682.
- Liu, S., Le Mauff, F., Sheppard, D. C. & Zhang, S. (2022). Filamentous fungal biofilms: Conserved and unique aspects of extracellular matrix composition, mechanisms of drug resistance and regulatory networks in Aspergillus fumigatus. NPJ biofilms and microbiomes, vol. 8, p. 83.
See also
