Area of Research

• As a newly appointed Assistant Professor in the Department of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, Dr. Diaz-Ochoa investigates the mechanisms neutrophils deploy to modulate inflammation during infectious and non-infectious pathologies. Prior to this appointment, as a UC Davis Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the Tsolis lab, Dr. Diaz-Ochoa investigated how nutritional elements shape immunity against microbial pathogens. Using animal and cellular models to study host-pathogen interactions, Vladimir explored how vitamin A deficiency results in impaired innate host defenses to bacterial pathogens. Neutrophils play a prominent role in the host response to microbial infections and neutrophilic antimicrobial properties are ablated by vitamin A deficiency. Dr. Diaz-Ochoa discovered that the lack of Nramp1 expression in neutrophils from vitamin A deficient mice resulted in a diminished control by the host of a disseminated Salmonella infection. Vladimir received his PhD at UC Irvine in the lab of Dr. Manuela Raffatellu where he discovered that the food born pathogen Salmonella Typhimurium grows in the inflamed gut by overcoming host mechanisms of manganese sequestration.
• Beyond the bench, Vladimir enjoys teaching and maintains a strong track record of mentoring underrepresented students in STEMM.