Dr. Ma Luo
 

Adjunct Professor, Department of Medical Microbiology, Research Scientist, HIV and Human Genetics, National Microbiology Laboratory

Degrees: M. Sc. (Chinese University of Science and Technology, Beijing, China 1982) PhD (University of Manitoba, 1987)

Mailing Address: National Microbiology Laboratory, 1015 Arlington street , Winnipeg , Manitoba , Canada R3E 3R2

Tel: (204) 789-5072 Fax: (204) 784-4835
E-mail: mluo@cc.umanitoba.ca,  Ma_Luo@phac-aspc.gc.ca

Research Interests:
My major professional interest is to address important questions in the life sciences with the tools of genetic analysis, molecular biology, biochemistry and bioinformatics.  My major focus in the recent years has been on uncovering the mechanism of resistance and susceptibility to HIV-1, to understand the interplay between host genetics, including human leukocyte antigens KIR and other host genetic factors, with HIV virus, and to use this knowledge to develop vaccines and therapeutics.

Selected Recent Publications:

  1. TURK W., Kimani J., Bielawyny T., Wachihi C., Ball TB., Plummer FA., and Luo M. Associations of Human Leukocyte Antigen G with Resistance and Susceptibility to HIV-1 Infection in the Pumwani Sexworker Cohort. AIDS (2012 Oct 1. [Epub ahead of print])
  2. Luo M., Sainsbury J, Tuff J., Lacap P., Yuan XY, Hirbod T., Kimani J., Wachihi C., Ramdahin S., Bielawny T., Embree J., Broliden K., Ball TB., and Plummer FA. A genetic polymorphism of FREM1 is associated with resistance against HIV infection in the Pumwani Sex Worker Cohort.  J. Virol. 2012 Nov;86(21):11899-905
  3. Buggert M, Norström MM, Czarnecki C, Tupin E, Luo M, Gyllensten K, Sönnerborg A, Lundegaard C, Lund O, Nielsen M, Karlsson AC. Characterization of HIV-Specific CD4+ T Cell Responses against Peptides Selected with Broad Population and Pathogen Coverage. PLoS One 2012;7(7):e39874. Epub 2012 Jul 5
  4. Orysiuk D, Lawrence J, Prashar T, Spangelo L, Pilon R, Fournier J, Rud E, Sandstrom P, Plummer FA, Luo M. Evidence of recombination producing allelic diversity in MHC class I Mafa-B and -A alleles in cynomolgus macaques. Tissue Antigens. 2012 May;79(5):351-8.
  5. Songok EM, Luo M, Liang B, Mclaren P, Kaefer N, Apidi W, Boucher G, Kimani J, Wachihi C, Sekaly R, Fowke K, Ball BT, Plummer FA. Microarray analysis of HIV resistant female sex workers reveal a gene expression signature pattern reminiscent of a lowered immune activation state. PLoS One. 2012;7(1):e30048. Epub 2012 Jan 26
  6. David La, Chris Czarnecki, Hani El-Gabalawy, Anand Kumar, Adrienne F.A. Meyers, Nathalie Bastien, J. Neil Simonsen, Francis A. Plummer, Ma Luo Enrichment of Variations in KIR3DL1/S1 and KIR2DL2/L3 among H1N1/09 ICU Patients: an Exploratory Study.  PLos One 2011;6(12):e29200. Epub 2011 Dec 28
  7. Ma Luo,Christina S. Daniuk, Tamsir O. Diallo, Rupert E. Capina, Joshua Kimani, Charles Wachihi, Makubo Kimani, Trevor Peterson, Thomas Bielawny, Mark G.R. Mendoza, Sandra Kiazyk, T. Blake Ball, Francis A. Plummer 2011 For protection from HIV-1 infection, more might not be better: a systematic analysis of HIV Gag epitopes of two alleles associated with different outcomes of HIV-1 infection. Journal of Virology Nov 9.
  8. Juno J, Tuff J, Choi R, Card C, Kimani J, Wachihi C, Koesters-Kiazyk S, Ball TB, Farquhar C, Plummer FA, John-Stewart G, Luo M, Fowke KR. The role of G protein gene GNB3 C825T polymorphism in HIV-1 acquisition, progression and immune activation. Retrovirology. 2012 Jan 3; 9:1
  9. Liang B, Luo M, Scott-Herridge J, Semeniuk C, Mendoza M, Capina R, Sheardown B, Ji H, Kimani J, Ball BT, Van Domselaar G, Graham M, Tyler S, Jones SJ, Plummer FA. 2011 A Comparison of Parallel Pyrosequencing and Sanger Clone-Based Sequencing and Its Impact on the Characterization of the Genetic Diversity of HIV-1. PLoS One. 2011;6(10):e26745. Epub 2011 Oct 21.
  10. Laurent Abi-Rached, Matthew J Jobin, Subhash Kulkarni, Alasdair McWhinnie, Klara Dalva, Loren Gragert, Farbod Babrzadeh, Baback Gharizadeh, Ma Luo, Francis A Plummer, Joshua Kimani, Mary Carrington, Derek Middleton, Raja Rajalingam, Meral Beksac, Steven GE Marsh, Martin Maiers, Lisbeth A Guethlein, Sofia Tavoularis, Ann-Margaret Little, Richard E Green, Paul J Norman and Peter Parham 2011 The Shaping of Modern Human Immune Systems by Multiregional Admixture with Archaic Humans. Science. 2011 Aug 25.
  11. Marion C. Lanteri, Zhanna Kaidarova, Trevor Peterson, Steven Cate, Brian Custer, Shiquan Wu, Maria Agapova, Jacqueline P. Law, Thomas Bielawny, Frank Plummer, Leslie H. Tobler, Mark Loeb, Michael P. Busch, Jonathan Bramson, Ma Luo, and Philip J. Norris 2011 Association between HLA Class I and Class II Alleles and the Outcome of West Nile Virus Infection: An Exploratory Study. PLoS One 2011; 6(8): e22948. Epub 2011 Aug 1.
  12. Isabey EP, Pham HM, Peterson TA, Brunham RC, Luo M, Plummer FA 2011 Identification of a novel HLA-A allele, A*29:28, in an East African population. Tissue Antigens 2011 Jul 26. doi: 10.1111/j.1399-0039.2011.01741.x
  13. Czarnecki C, Van Domselaar G, Embreé J, Brunham R, Plummer FA, Luo M. Identification of HLA-G*01:17, a new allele possibly generated by an interloci gene conversion event involving exon 3 of HLA-B. Hum Immunol. 2010 Dec 13.
  14. Songok EM, Osero B, McKinnon L, Rono MK, Apidi W, Matey EJ, Meyers AF, Luo M, Kimani J, Wachihi C, Ball BT, Plummer FA, Mpoke S. CD26/dipeptidyl peptidase IV (CD26/DPPIV) is highly expressed in peripheral blood of HIV-1 exposed uninfected Female sex workers. Virol J. 2010 Nov 25;7:343.
  15. Hardie RA, Czarnecki C, Ball TB, Plummer FA, Luo M. 2010  Identification of four novel KIR2DL2 alleles and two novel KIR2DL3 alleles in an East African population Hum Immunol. 2010 Dec;71(12):1251-4. Epub 2010 Sep 25
  16. Chris Czarnecki, Ma Luo, Robert Brunham,  Kristina Broliden,  Annika C Karlsson, Francis A Plummer 2010  Identification of HLA-DPA1 020107 in an individual of Ugandan descent. Human Immunology 2010 Jul;71(7):733-5. Epub 2010 May 12
  17. Heather Price, Philip Lacap, Jeff Tuff, Charles Wachihi, Joshua Kimani, Terry B. Ball, Ma Luo, Francis A. Plummer. 2010  A Trim5alpha Exon 2 Polymorphism is Associated with Protection from HIV-1 Infection in Pumwani Sexworker Cohort. AIDS 2010 Jul 31;24(12):1813-21.
  18. Rupert Kaul, Kelly S. MacDonald, Nico J. Nagelkerke, Joshua Kimani, Keith Fowke,T. Blake Ball, Ma Luo, Anthony Kariri, Walter Jaoko, Stephen Moses, Sarah Rowland-Jones, Francis A. Plummer. Clinical and immune outcomes in individuals with HIV-specific CD8+T cell responses prior to HIV acquisition. AIDS 2010 Jun 19;24(10):1449-54.
  19. Ben Binhua Liang, Ma Luo, Blake Ball, and Francis A. Plummer 2010 QUASI Analysis of Host Immune Responses to Gag proteins of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type I by a Systematic Bioinformatics Approach. Biochemistry and Cell Biology 2010 Aug;88(4):671-81.
  20. Hollenbach JA, Meenagh A, Sleator C, Alaez C, Bengoche M, Canossi A, Contreras G, Creary L, Evseeva I, Gorodezky C, Hardie RA, Hemming Karlsen T, Lie B, Luo M, Martinetti M, Navarette C, de Oliveira DC, Ozzella G, Pasi A, Pavlova E, Pinto S, Porto LC, Santos P, Slavcev A, Srinak D, Tavoularis S, Tonks S, Trachtenberg E, Vejbaesya S, Middleton D. Report from the killer immunoglobulin-like receptor (KIR) anthropology component of the 15th International Histocompatibility Workshop: worldwide variation in the KIR loci and further evidence for the co-evolution of KIR and HLA Tissue Antigens. 2010 Jul; 76(1):9-17. Epub 2010 Mar 14
  21. Semeniuk CA, Capina RE, Mendoza MG, Kimani J, Ball TB, Luo M, Plummer FA. 2010 Identification and characterization of HLA-A*0301 epitopes in HIV-1 gag proteins using a novel approach. J Immunol Methods. 352(1-2):118-25. Epub 2009 Nov 10.
  22. McKinnon LR, Capina R, Peters H, Mendoza M, Kimani J, Wachihi C, Kariri A, Kimani M, Richmond M, Kiazyk SK, Fowke KR, Jaoko W, Luo M, Ball TB, Plummer FA. 2009 Clade-specific evolution mediated by HLA-B*57/5801 in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 clade A1 p24. J Virol. 83(23):12636-42. Epub 2009 Sep 16.
  23. Lyle R. McKinnon, Xiaojuan Mao, Joshua Kimani, Charles, Wachihi, Christina Semeniuk, Mark Mendoza, Binhua Liang, Ma Luo, Keith R. Fowke, Francis A. Plummer, T. Blake Ball 2009 Epitope mapping of HIV-specific CD8+ T cells in a cohort dominated by clade A1 infection. PLOS ONE 4(9):e6965.
  24. Christina A. Semeniuk, Lyle McKinnon, Harold O. Peters, Michael Gubbins, Xiaojuan Mao, Terry B. Ball, Ma Luo, Francis A. Plummer  2009 Multiple T Cell Epitopes Overlap Positively Selected Residues in P1 Spacer Protein of HIV-1 gag.  AIDS 23:771-777.
  25. Julius O. Oyugi, Françoise C. M. Vouriot, Judie Alimonti, Stephen Wayne, Ma Luo, Allison M. Land, Zhujun Ao, Xiaojian Yao, Rafick P. Sekaly, Lawrence J. Elliott, J. Neil Simonsen, T. Blake Ball+, Walter Jaoko, Joshua Kimani, Francis A. Plummer and Keith R. Fowke  2009 A common CD4 gene variant is associated with increased risk of HIV-1 infection in Kenyan female sex workers. J Infect Disease 199: 1327-34.
  26. Nico J Nagelkerke,  Sake J de Vlas,  Prabhat Jha,  Ma Luo, Francis A Plummer, Rupert Kaul  2009 Heterogeneity in host HIV susceptibility as a potential contributor to recent HIV prevalence declines in Africa  AIDS 23(1):125-30.
  27. Land AM, Luo M, Pilon R, Sandstrom P, Embree J, Wachihi C, Kimani J, Plummer FA, Ball TB. 2008 High prevalence of genetically similar HIV-1 recombinants among infected sex workers in Nairobi, Kenya AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 24:1455-60
  28. Trevor Peterson, Ma Luo, Xiao-Juan Mao, Robert Brunham, Frank Plummer  2008  Identification of a Novel DPA1 Allele, DPA1*010602 in an East African Population.  Human Immunology 69(12):885-6.  
  29. McKinnon LR, Ball TB, Wachihi C, Chinga N, Maingi A, Luo M, Fowke KR, Plummer FA. 2008 Substantial Intrapatient Differences in the Breadth and Specificity of HIV-Specific CD8+ T-Cell Interferon-gamma and Proliferation Responses.  JAIDS  49(2):123-127.
  30. Rae-Anne Hardie, Erin Knight, Brigitte Bruneau, Christina Semeniuk, Kulvinder Gill, Nico J Nagelkerke,  Joshua Kimani, Charles Wachihi, Elizabeth N Ngugi, Ma Luo, Francis A Plummer 2008 A common DP genotype is associated with Resistance to HIV-1 Infection in Kenyan Sexworkers. AIDS, 122(15):2049-51.
  31. William J. R. Turk, and Xiao-Juan Mao, Thomas Bielawyny, Robert Brunham, Ma Luo, Frank Plummer 2008 Identification of Novel HLA-G Alleles in an East African Population by High Resolution Sequence-based Typing.  Human Immunology 69(7):426-9.
  32. Land AM, Ball TB, Luo M, Pilon R, Sandstrom P, Embree JE, Wachihi C, Kimani J, Plummer FA (2008) Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) type 1 proviral hypermutation correlates with CD4 count in HIV-infected women from Kenya. J. Virology. 82: 8172-8182.
  33. Land AM, Ball TB, Luo M, Rutherford J, Sarna C, Wachihi C, Kimani J, Plummer FA. Full-length HIV type 1 proviral sequencing of 10 highly exposed women from Nairobi, Kenya reveals a high proportion of intersubtype recombinants. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses. 2008 Jun;24(6):865-72.
  34. Philip A. Lacap, Janis D. Huntington, Ma Luo, Nico J.D. Nagelkerke, Thomas Bielawny, Joshua Kimani, Charles Wachihi, Elizabeth N. Ngugi, Francis A. Plummer  2008  Associations of HLA-DRB with resistance or susceptibility to HIV-1 infection in the Pumwani Sex Worker Cohort . AIDS May 31;22(9):1029-38.
  35. Binhua  Liang, Ma Luo, T. Blake Ball, Xiaojian Yao, Gary Van Domselaar, Wilfred R. Cuff, Mary Cheang, Steven J.M. Jones, and Francis A. Plummer 2008 Systematic Analysis of Host Immunological Pressure on the Envelope Gene of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 by an Immunobioinformatics Approach. Current HIV Research Jun;6(4):370-9.
  36. Rae_Anne Hardie, Ma Luo, Brigitte Bruneau, Erin Knight, Nico J Nagelkerke,  Joshua Kimani, Charles Wachihi, Elizabeth N Ngugi, Francis A Plummer 2008 HLA-DQ Alleles and Haplotypes and Their Associations with Resistance and Susceptibility to HIV-1 Infection. AIDS, Apr 23;22(7):807-16
  37. H. Peters, M. Mendoza, R. Capina, M. Luo, X. Mao, M. Gubbins, I. MacArthur, B. Sheardown, J. Kimani, C. Wachihi, S. Thavaneswaran, F.A. Plummer.  2008 An Integrative Bioinformatic Approach in Studying Escape Mutations in HIV-1 gag in the Pumwani Sex Worker Cohort.  J. Virology  82(4): 1980-92
  38. Joshua Kimani, Rupert Kaul, Nico J Nagelkerke, Ma Luo, Kelly S MacDonald, Elizabeth Ngugi, Keith R Fowke, Blake Ball, Anthony Kariri, Jeckoniah Ndinya-Achola, Francis A Plummer 2007 Reduced rates of HIV acquisition during unprotected sex by Kenyan female sex workers predating population declines in HIV prevalence.  AIDS, 22(1)131-7.
  39. Ben Binhua Liang, Ma Luo, Blake Ball, and Francis A. Plummer  2007 QUASI Analysis of the HIV-1 Envelope Sequences in Los Alamos HIV Sequence Database: Pattern and Distribution of PS Sites and their Frequencies over Years.  Biochemistry and Cell Biology  85(2):259-64.
  40. McKinnon LR, Ball TB, Wachihi C, McLAren PJ, Waruk JL, Mao X, Ramdahin S, Anzala AO, Kamene J, Luo M, Fowke KR, Plummer FA 2007 J Immunol. 2007 178(6):3750-6