Research Interests

I have the good fortune to be both a pharmacologist and a practicing dermatologist.  In addition to serving as Professor and Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Toxicology, I am Professor of Dermatology and also hold a part-time 5/8th Staff Physician at the Dayton VA.  I see dermatology patients in both the WSU Department of Dermatology as well as at the Dayton VA Medical Center. 

Please see following link for updated manuscripts by Dr. Travers:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed?term=Travers%2C%20Jeffrey%20B%5BAuthor%5D

There are two major research interests of my laboratory.  First is the pharmacology of the lipid mediator Platelet-activating Factor (PAF).  We have demonstrated that PAF and related oxidized glycerophosphocholines (Ox-GPCs) are produced in response to numerous pro-oxidative environmental stimuli from UV radiation to chemotherapy and cigarette smoke exposure.  PAF-receptor agonists exert acute pro-inflammatory and delayed immunosuppressive effects.  Our models range from cultured cells to mice to humans.  These studies are supported by NIH R01 HL062996 (7/1998-6/2024), R01 ES031087 (4/2021-3/2026), R34 AR081443 (7/2023-6/2026) and VA Merit 510BX000853 (10/2010-9/2028) and 1101CX002927 (4/2025-3-2029).

Below find several recent manuscripts in this area:

138.  Thapa P, Bhadri S, Borchers C, Liu L, Chen Y, Rapp CM, Travers JB.  Low UVB fluences augment microvesicle particle generation in keratinocytes.  Photochemistry & Photobiology, 2021 in press.  PMID:  34324709.

137.  McGlone CL, Christian L, Schmeusser B, Liu L, Stephensen DJ, Sherwin CM, Rapp CM,   Sattouf Z, Rohan CA, Morris C, Chen Y, Travers JB.  Evidence for systemic reactive oxygen species in UVB-mediated microvesicle particle formation.  Photochemistry & Photobiology, 2021 in press.  PMID:  34324712.

136.  Liu, L, Awoyemi AA, Fahy KE, Thapa P, Borchers C, Wu B, McGlone C, Schmeusser B, Sattouf Z, Rohan CA, Williams AR, Cates EE, Knisely C, Kelly LE, Bihl JC, Cool DR, Sahu RP, Wang J, Chen Y, Rapp CM, Kemp MG, Johnson RM, and Travers, JB.  Keratinocyte-derived microvesicle particles mediate Ultraviolet B radiation induced         systemic immunosuppression.  Journal of Clinical Investigation,  131(10):e144963, 2021.    PMID: 33830943

129.     Liu L,  Fahy KE, Awoyemi AA, Thapa P, Kelly LE, Chen J, Bihl JC,  Cool DR, Chen Y, Rapp CM, Johnson RM, and Travers JB.  Thermal burn injury generates bioactive    microvesicles: evidence for a novel transport mechanism for the lipid mediator   Platelet-activating factor that involves subcellular particles and the PAF receptor.  Journal of Immunology, 205(1): 193-201, 2020.  PMID: 32434939.

123.  Yu H, Dilbaz S, Coßmann J, Hoang AC, Diedrich V, Herwig A, Harauma A, Hoshi Y, Moriguchi T, Landgraf K, Körner A, Lucas C, Brodesser S, Balogh L, Thuróczy J, Karemore G, Kuefner MS, Park EA, Rapp C, Travers JB, Röszer T.  Breast milk alkylglycerols sustain beige adipocytes through adipose tissue macrophages.  J. Clin. Invest. 130:2485-2499, 2019.  PMID: 31081799.

120.  Travers JB, Weyerbacher J, Ocana JA, Borchers C, Rapp CM, Sahu RP.  Acute ethanol exposure augments low dose UVB-mediated systemic immunosuppression via enhanced production of Platelet-activating factor receptor agonists.  J. Invest. Dermatol.  139(7) 1619-1622, 2019.  PMID: 30682347.

116.  Harrison KA, Romer E, Weyerbacher J, Ocana JA, Sahu RP, Murphy RC, Kelly LE, Smith TA, Rapp CM, Borchers C, Cool DR, Li G, Simman R, Travers JB.  Enhanced Platelet-activating Factor synthesis facilitates acute and delayed effects of ethanol intoxicated thermal burn injury.  J. Invest. Dermatol.  138(11):2461-2469, 2018.  PMID: 29857067.

137.  Liu L, Awoyemi AA, Fahy KE, Thapa P, Borchers C, Wu B, McGlone C., Schmeusser B, Sattouf Z, Rohan CA, Williams AR, Cates EE, Knisely C, Kelly LE, Bihl JC, Cool DR, Sahu RP, Wang J, Chen Y, Kemp MG, Johnson RM, Travers JB.  Keratinocyte-derived microparticles mediate Ultraviolet B radiation induced systemic immunosuppression.  J. Clin. Invest. 131(10):e144963, 2021.  PMID: 33830943.

161.  Christian L, Manjrekar P, Henkels KM, Rapp CM, Annamraju R, Lohade RP, Singh S, Carpenter MA, Khan S, Kemp MG, Chen Y, Sahu RP, Travers JB. Evidence for the involvement of keratinocyte-derived microvesicle particles in the photosensitivity associated with xeroderma pigmentosum type A deficiency. Photochem Photobiol. 2024 Jan 29. doi: 10.1111/php.13915. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38287748.

163.     Lohade RP, Brewer C, Rapp CM, Henkels KM, Zhang W, Thyagarajan A, Singh S, Manjrekar P, Sabit T, Sahu RP, Travers JB. Evidence that keratinocyte microvesicle particles carrying Platelet-activating factor mediate the widespread multi-organ damage associated with intoxicated thermal burn injury. J Leukoc Biol. 2024 Mar 26:qiae078. doi: 10.1093/jleuko/qiae078. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 38531065.

Recent reviews: 

23.  Travers JB, Rohan J, Sahu RP.  New Insights into the Pathologic Roles of the Platelet-activating Factor System.  Frontiers in Endocrinology, 2021 Mar 15;12:624132. doi: 10.3389/fendo.2021.624132. eCollection 2021.  PMID: 33796070 Free PMC article.

21.  Travers, JB.  Platelet-activating Factor as an effector for Environmental Stressors.  Handb Exp Pharmacol. 259:185-203, 2020.

29.   Frommeyer TC, Gilbert MM, Brittain GV, Wu T, Nguyen TQ, Rohan CA, Travers JB.  UVB-induced microvesicle particle release and its effects on the cutaneous environment.           Frontiers in Immunology.  6:13:880850.  2022.  PMID: 35603177.

The second research area is to define the role of dermal fibroblast senescence in abnormal UVB responses associated with geriatric skin.  In a long term collaborative study with Dr. Dan Spandau at Indiana University, we have defined that geriatric skin responds to UVB differently than young skin, due to differences in IGF-1 levels produced by dermal fibroblasts.  Moreover, we have found that wounding the skin via dermabrasion or fractionated laser resurfacing can result in increased dermal IGF-1 levels and normalization of the abnormal pro-carincinogenic UV response associated with geriatric skin.  We see this as a potential preventative treatment for non-melanoma skin cancer.  Moreover, we have ongoing collaborations with Dr. Young Kim (Purdue University Engineering) using non-invasive mesocopic imaging to quantify photodamage in human subjects.  These studies are supported by NIH R01 AG048946 (9/2014-6/2027), and VA Merit 1101CX000809 (9/2014-9/2023).  

Below find several recent manuscripts in this area:

127.  Chen R, Wargo JJ, Williams A, Cates E, Spandau DF, Knisely C, Travers JB.  Single ablative fractional resurfacing laser treatment for forearm actinic keratoses: six month follow-up data from an intrapatient comparison between treated and untreated sites. Lasers Surg Med 52(1):84-87, 2020. PMID: 31736123.

126.  Travers JB, Kemp MG, Weir NM, Cates E, Alkawar AM, Mahajan AS, Spandau DF.  Wounding with a microneedling device corrects the inappropriate ultraviolet B radiation response in geriatric skin.  Arch Derm Res 312:1-4, 2020.  PMID: 31659432.

124.  Travers JB, Poon C, Bihl T, Borchers C, Rohrbach DJ, Borchers S, Trevino J, Rubin M, Donnelly H, Kellawan K, Carpenter, L, Bahl S, Rohan C, Muennich E, Guenthner S, Hahn H, Rkein A, Darst M, Mousdicas N, Cates E, Sunar U.   Quantifying skin photodamage with spatial frequency domain imaging: Statistical results.  Biomed. Optics Express.  10(9): 4676-4683, 2019.  PMID:  31565518.

140. Spandau DF, Chen R, Wargo JJ, Rohan CA, Southern D, Zhang A, Loesch M,     Weyerbacher J, Tholpady S, Lewis D, Kuhar M, Tsai KY, Castellanos AJ, Kemp MG,          Markey M, Cates E, Williams AR, Knisely C, Bashir S, Gabbard R, Hoopes R, Travers, JB.  Randomized controlled trial of fractionated laser resurfacing to aged skin as       prophylaxis against actinic neoplasia.  Journal of Clinical Investigation,131(19):e150972. PMID: 34428179.

In addition to these research interests, I have clinical expertise in inflammatory skin diseases, in particular atopic dermatitis and psoriasis.  I founded and work at the Wright State Pharmacology Translational Unit (PTU) which conducts translational research studies and pharmacetical-funded clinical trials.  Please see the PTU website

http://wrightstatephysicians.org/ptu/ for more details.

Articles relating to clinical trials (>40 since 2016) or clinical practice:

 141.  Slingluff CL, Lewis KD, Andtbacka R, Hyngstrom J, Milhem M, Markovic SN, Bowles        T, Hamid O, Hernandez-Aya L, Claveau J, Jang S, Philips P, Holtan SG, Shaheen MF, Curti B, Schmidt W, Butler MO, Paramo J, Lutzky J, Padmanabhan A, Thomas S, Milton D, Pecora A, Sato T, Hsueh E, Badarinath S, Keech J, Kalmadi S, Kumar P, Weber R, Levine E, Berger A, Bar A, Beck JT, Travers JB, Mihalcioiu C, Gastman B, Beitsch P, Rapisuwon S, Glaspy J, McCarron EC, Gupta V, Behl D, Blumenstein B, Peterkin JJ. Multicenter, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of seviprotimut-L polyvalent melanoma vaccine in patients with post-resection melanoma at high risk of recurrence. J Immunother Cancer. 2021 Oct;9(10):e003272. doi: 10.1136/jitc-2021-003272. PMID:   34599031; PMCID: PMC8488725.

146.  Kulkarni M, Rohan CA, Morris D, Travers JB.  Resolution of dupilumab-associated alopecia areata with dosage modification.  JAAD Case Reports, 2022, 22:85-88, 2022.  PMID: 35340733.

148. Dickman J, Howell M, Hoopes R, Wang Y, Dickerson TJ, Bottomley M, Shamma HN, Rapp CM, Turner MJ,  Rohan CA, and Travers JB. Insights into Lichen Planus          Pigmentosus Inversus  using Minimally Invasive Dermal Patch and Whole Transcriptome Analysis.  Journal of   Clinical & Investigative Dermatology, 10(1):10.13188/2373-     1044.10000772022, 2022.  PMID: 36003415.

151. Bayless S, Bihl T, Rohan CA, Travers, JB, Whitney E.  Inappropriate testing of    streptococcal pharyngitis in children aged below 3 years:  Application of statistical           process control.  Clinical Pediatrics, in press https://doi.org/10.1177/00099228221125823

EDUCATION-TRAINING

B.S. The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1984 

Ph.D. Pharmacology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1990

M.D., The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio 1991

Transitional Internship-Riverside Methodist, Columbus Ohio 1991-92

Residency, Dermatology, University of Colorado, Denver 1992-95

Fellowship, University of Colorado and National Jewish, Denver, Colorado (with Prof. Robert Murphy) 1993-95

OTHER Memberships/honors

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology            

Alpha Omega Alpha Medical Honor Society

American Society for Clinical Investigation (ASCI) 

American Academy of Dermatology 

American Dermatology Association

External Advisor, Atopic Dermatitis Research Network Consortium

External Advisor, Christian Doppler Laboratory on Biotechnology of Skin Aging, Vienna Austria

International Union of Basic and Clinical Pharmacology Committee on Receptor Nomenclature, PAF-Receptor (Member 2012-)

Wapakoneta Ohio High School Alumni Hall of Fame (#23) 2018

Brage Golding Distinguished Professor for Research (2020-2023)

Associate Editor, Skin Research Technology (2022- )

Associate Editor, Journal of Investigative Dermatology (2023- )