Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine  http://www.gbs.uab.edu  http://www.uab.edu/graduate  Back to Main

Faculty Detail    
Name CRAIG L MAYNARD
 
Campus Address SHEL 613 Zip 2182
Phone  (205) 996-0136
E-mail  craigmaynard@uabmc.edu
Other websites
     

Education
Undergraduate  Midwestern State University    2001  B.S. 
Graduate  University of Alabama at Birmingham    2007  Ph.D. 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Center  UAB Immunology Institute  UAB Immunology Institute Associate Professor
Center  UWIRC Microbiome Center  UWIRC Microbiome Center Associate Professor
Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Associate Professor
Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Associate Professor
Center  Nutrition Sciences Research  Nutrition Obesity Res Ctr (NORC) Associate Professor
Primary  Joint Pathology  Molecular & Cellular Pathology Associate Professor
Secondary  Med - Gastroenterology  Med - Gastroenterology Assistant Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Immunology 
Microbiology 
Pathobiology and Molecular Medicine 

Biographical Sketch 
Dr. Maynard earned his Bachelor of Science degree in Biology from Midwestern State University and completed doctoral and postdoctoral training at the University of Alabama at Birmingham.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Association of Immunologists  Member  http://www.aai.org/ 
Society for Mucosal Immunology  Member  http://www.socmucimm.org/ 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Intestinal Immune Regulation in Health and Disease
Description
Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis, the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), are believed to be due in part to a failure of intestinal immune regulation. This allows for aberrant pro-inflammatory responses to specific microbial communities that colonize the gastrointestinal tract. The adaptive immune system is actively involved in preventing such responses through the collective functions of anti-commensal antibody-secreting cells (ASCs) and CD4+ regulatory T cells (Treg cells). However, this immunoregulatory apparatus sometimes fails, predisposing to chronic intestinal inflammation. The overall goals of our research program are (1) to elucidate the mechanisms that synergize to maintain this state of intestinal immune homeostasis, and (2) to define the cellular and molecular pathways that enhance regulatory T cell function particularly during chronic inflammation and (3) to elucidate mechanisms related to psychosocial stress in early life impact susceptibility to IBD.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Maynard, C.L., Harrington, L.E., Janowski, K.M., Oliver, J.R., Zindl, C.L., Rudensky, A.Y., and Weaver, C.T. Interleukin 10-expressing regulatory T cells develop from Foxp3+ and Foxp3– precursors in the absence of interleukin 10. Nat Immunol. 2007 Sep;8(9):931-41.  17694059 
Maynard, C.L., Hatton, R.D., Helms, W.S., Oliver, J.R., Stephensen, C.B., and Weaver, C.T. Contrasting Roles For All-Trans Retinoic Acid in TGF-beta-mediated Induction of Foxp3 and Il10 genes in Developing Regulatory T Cells. J Exp Med. 2009 Feb 16;206(2):343-57.  19204112 
Lee, Y., Turner, H., Maynard, C.L., Oliver, J.R., Chen, D., and Weaver, C.T. (2009). Late developmental plasticity in the T helper 17 lineage. Immunity. 2009 Jan 16;30(1):92-107.  19119024 
Maynard, C.L., Elson, C.O., Hatton, R.D., and Weaver, C.T. Reciprocal Interactions of the Intestinal Microbiota and the Immune System in Homeostasis and Disease. Nature. 2012 Sep 13;489(7415):231-41.  22972296 
Harbour, S.N., Maynard, C.L., Zindl, C.L., Schoeb, T.R., and Weaver, C.T. The transition of Th17 cells into Th1-like progeny is required for the pathogenesis of colitis. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Jun 2;112(22):7061-6.  26038559 
Kumar, R., Maynard, C.L., Eipers, P., Goldsmith, K.T., Ptacek, T., Grubbs, A., Dixon, P., Howard, D., Crossman, D.K., Crowley, M., Benjamin, W., Lefkowitz, E.J., Weaver, C.T., Rodriguez, J.M., and Morrow, C.D. Colonization potential to reconstitute a microbe community in patients detected early after fecal microbe transplant for recurrent C. difficile. BMC Microbiol. 2016 Jan 13;16:5.  26758906 
Lee YK, Landuyt AE, Lobionda S, Sittipo P, Zhao Q, Maynard CL. TCR-independent functions of Th17 cells mediated by the synergistic actions of cytokines of the IL-12 and IL-1 families. PLoS One. 2017 Oct 12;12(10):e0186351  29023599 
Sittipo P, Lobionda S, Lee YK, Maynard CL. Intestinal microbiota and the immune system in metabolic diseases. J Microbiol. 2018 Mar;56(3):154-162. doi: 10.1007/s12275-018-7548-y. Epub 2018 Feb 28.  29492872 
Landuyt AE, Klocke BJ, Colvin TB, Schoeb TR, Maynard CL. Cutting Edge: ICOS-Deficient Regulatory T Cells Display Normal Induction of Il10 but Readily Downregulate Expression of Foxp3. J Immunol. 2019 Feb 15;202(4):1039-1044.  30642977 
Yang W, Yu T, Huang X, Bilotta AJ, Xu L, Lu Y, Sun J, Pan F, Zhou J, Zhang W, Yao S, Maynard CL, Singh N, Dann SM, Liu Z, Cong Y.
Intestinal microbiota-derived short-chain fatty acids regulation of immune cell IL-22 production and gut immunity. Nat Commun. 2020 Sep 8;11(1):4457. doi: 10.1038/s41467-020-18262-6. 
32901017 
Zhao Q, Duck LW, Huang F, Alexander KL, Maynard CL, Mannon PJ, Elson CO. CD4+ T cell activation and concomitant mTOR metabolic inhibition can ablate microbiota-specific memory cells and prevent colitis. Sci Immunol. 2020 Dec 11;5(54):eabc6373. doi: 10.1126/sciimmunol.abc6373.  33310866 

Keywords
immunoregulation, microbiota, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), regulatory T cells, anti-commensal antibodies