Biography
Buka Samten completed his medical education at Xinjiang Medical University and his MS degree in Immunology at Beijing University School of Health Sciences in Beijing, China. He had lectured immunology and experimental immunology to the medical school students and graduate students at these universities as an Assistant Professor after his graduations. In 1998, he had joined the research group at the Center for Pulmonary and Infectious Diseases at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler (UTHCT) as a postdoctoral research fellow. Since then, he has conducted scientific research to understand the immune responses against tuberculosis infection. He was appointed as an Instructor of Microbiology and Immunology in 2002, Assistant Professor in 2006, and Associate Professor in 2009 at UTHCT.
His research focuses on understanding the immune responses against tuberculosis infection with an emphasis on understanding the mechanistic details of the protective immune responses against tuberculosis infection and disease pathology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of tuberculosis. He has authored and co-authored close 80 research papers cited in PubMed including publications in JI, JID, I & I, iScience and PloS Pathogens. His research has been supported by funds from NIH (one R01 and 3 R21 grants as a PI and several other R01 grants as a co-investigator)
and funds from the University of Texas at Tyler. He also serves on several grant review panels for the NIH, AHA and other organizations.
Education & Training
BM (Bachelor of Medicine, Xinjiang Medical College) 1981 to 1987
MS (Immunology, Beijing University School of Medicine) 1993 to 1996
Postdoc (Infection Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler) 1998 to 2002
Research Interests For over twenty years, the focus of his research has been in the area about identifying the components of protective immune responses against tuberculosis infection with an emphasis in understanding the mechanisms of immune protection against tuberculosis infection, a devastating chronic infectious disease of the lungs, and understanding the disease pathology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the tuberculosis management in the clinic. He has published in the areas of T cell, dendritic cell and macrophage responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and their interaction with virulence factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the epigenetic control mechanisms of host immune responses against tuberculosis infection. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and funds from Potts Foundation and Institutional funds.
Courses Taught 1. Critical Reading (as Instructor of Record)
2. Fundamentals of Biomedical Research, Biotechnology
3. EMSA and Generation of transgenic animals as Part of the Advanced Biotechnology
4. Advanced Immunology (as Instructor of Record) for the Biotechnology Master’s Program.
Publication Highlights (Of 72 Cited on PubMed): 1. Chung Y, Barnes PF, Wang X, Yi N, Townsend JC, Pasquinelli V, Jurado JO, Veronica G, Samten B. Elevated cyclic AMP Acts through PKA type I to inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced IFN-γ secretion by T cells. 217:1821-1831, 2018.
2. Wang Y, Hao Q, Florence JM, Jung BG, Kurdowska AK, Samten B, Idell S, Tang H. Influenza Virus infection induces ZBP1 expression and necroptosis in mouse lungs. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 9:286, 2019.
3. Jung B, Vankayalapati R, and Samten B. Mycobacterium tuberculosis stimulates IL-1β production by macrophages in an ESAT-6 dependent manner with the involvement of serum amyloid A3. Molecular Immunology. 135:285-293, 2021.
4. Jung B, Samten B, Dean K, Wallace RJ, Jr., Brown-Elliott BA, Tucker T, Idell S, Philley, JV, Vankayalapati R. Early IL-17A production helps establish Mycobacterium intracellulare infection in mice. PLoS Pathogens, 18(4):e1010454, 2022.
5. Dean K, Jung B, Dornelas-Moreira J, Samten B. Identification of N-formylated peptides with neutrophilic chemotactic activity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Zoonoses, 2:17, 2022.
6. Dornelas-Moreira J, Iakhiaev A, Vankayalapati R, Jung B, Samten B. Histone deacetylase-2 controls IL-1β production through the regulation of NLRP3 expression and activation in tuberculosis infection, iScience, 25:104799, 2022.
MS (Immunology, Beijing University School of Medicine) 1993 to 1996
Postdoc (Infection Immunology, The University of Texas Health Science Center at Tyler) 1998 to 2002
Research Interests For over twenty years, the focus of his research has been in the area about identifying the components of protective immune responses against tuberculosis infection with an emphasis in understanding the mechanisms of immune protection against tuberculosis infection, a devastating chronic infectious disease of the lungs, and understanding the disease pathology to improve the diagnosis and treatment of the tuberculosis management in the clinic. He has published in the areas of T cell, dendritic cell and macrophage responses against Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and their interaction with virulence factor of Mycobacterium tuberculosis and the epigenetic control mechanisms of host immune responses against tuberculosis infection. His research has been funded by the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases of the National Institutes of Health and funds from Potts Foundation and Institutional funds.
Courses Taught 1. Critical Reading (as Instructor of Record)
2. Fundamentals of Biomedical Research, Biotechnology
3. EMSA and Generation of transgenic animals as Part of the Advanced Biotechnology
4. Advanced Immunology (as Instructor of Record) for the Biotechnology Master’s Program.
Publication Highlights (Of 72 Cited on PubMed): 1. Chung Y, Barnes PF, Wang X, Yi N, Townsend JC, Pasquinelli V, Jurado JO, Veronica G, Samten B. Elevated cyclic AMP Acts through PKA type I to inhibit Mycobacterium tuberculosis-induced IFN-γ secretion by T cells. 217:1821-1831, 2018.
2. Wang Y, Hao Q, Florence JM, Jung BG, Kurdowska AK, Samten B, Idell S, Tang H. Influenza Virus infection induces ZBP1 expression and necroptosis in mouse lungs. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 9:286, 2019.
3. Jung B, Vankayalapati R, and Samten B. Mycobacterium tuberculosis stimulates IL-1β production by macrophages in an ESAT-6 dependent manner with the involvement of serum amyloid A3. Molecular Immunology. 135:285-293, 2021.
4. Jung B, Samten B, Dean K, Wallace RJ, Jr., Brown-Elliott BA, Tucker T, Idell S, Philley, JV, Vankayalapati R. Early IL-17A production helps establish Mycobacterium intracellulare infection in mice. PLoS Pathogens, 18(4):e1010454, 2022.
5. Dean K, Jung B, Dornelas-Moreira J, Samten B. Identification of N-formylated peptides with neutrophilic chemotactic activity in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Zoonoses, 2:17, 2022.
6. Dornelas-Moreira J, Iakhiaev A, Vankayalapati R, Jung B, Samten B. Histone deacetylase-2 controls IL-1β production through the regulation of NLRP3 expression and activation in tuberculosis infection, iScience, 25:104799, 2022.