Richard J Simpson, PhD

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Associate Professor, Nutritional Sciences
Biography
Dr. Simpson completed his training in exercise physiology and immunology at Edinburgh Napier University in Scotland before spending nine years as a faculty member at the University of Houston. He studies the effects of exercise and stress on the immune system. Major cross-cutting themes of his work are aging (immunosenescence), cancer and spaceflight, with a particular interest in how adrenergic receptor signaling can be used to improve cellular products for hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and immunotherapy. He serves on the editorial board of the following journals: Brain, behavior & Immunity; Immunity and Ageing; and Exercise Immunology Reviews. His current research is supported by NASA and the National Cancer Institute.
Cancer Focus
Dr. Simpson is interested in complementary approaches to hematopoietic stem cell transplantation and adoptive transfer immunotherapy for the treatment of both blood cancers and solid tumors. He is currently using approaches that target beta-2 adrenergic receptor signaling (e.g. exercise, isoproterenol infusion) to improve the composition of allogeneic peripheral blood stem cell grafts with the view to minimizing graft-versus-host-disease and evoking stronger graft versus leukemia effects. He is also interested in the anti-tumor potential of gamma-delta T-cells and NK-cells and how these can be manufactured ex vivo and used therapeutically to treat a wide range of malignancies.
Selected Publications
Coletta, A. M., N. H. Agha, F. L. Baker, G. M. Niemiro, P. L. Mylabathula, A. M. Brewster, T. B. Bevers, E. Fuentes-Mattei, K. Basen-Engquist, S. C. Gilchrist, et al., "The impact of high-intensity interval exercise training on NK-cell function and circulating myokines for breast cancer prevention among women at high risk for breast cancer.", Breast Cancer Res Treat, 2021 Feb 08. PMID: 33555464
Baker, F. L., A. B. Bigley, N. H. Agha, C. R. Pedlar, D. P. O'Connor, R. A. Bond, C. M. Bollard, E. Katsanis, and R. J. Simpson, "Systemic β-Adrenergic Receptor Activation Augments the Expansion and Anti-Tumor Activity of Vγ9Vδ2 T-Cells.", Front Immunol, vol. 10, pp. 3082, 2019. PMCID: PMC6993603 PMID: 32038628
Graff, R. M., H. E. Kunz, N. H. Agha, F. L. Baker, M. Laughlin, A. B. Bigley, M. M. Markofski, E. C. LaVoy, E. Katsanis, R. A. Bond, et al., "β-Adrenergic receptor signaling mediates the preferential mobilization of differentiated subsets of CD8+ T-cells, NK-cells and non-classical monocytes in response to acute exercise in humans.", Brain Behav Immun, vol. 74, pp. 143-153, 2018 Nov. PMID: 30172948
Bigley, A. B., F. L. Baker, and R. J. Simpson, "Cytomegalovirus: an unlikely ally in the fight against blood cancers?", Clin Exp Immunol, vol. 193, issue 3, pp. 265-274, 2018 Sep. PMCID: PMC6150251 PMID: 29737525
Simpson, R. J., A. B. Bigley, N. Agha, P. J. Hanley, and C. M. Bollard, "Mobilizing Immune Cells With Exercise for Cancer Immunotherapy.", Exerc Sport Sci Rev, vol. 45, issue 3, pp. 163-172, 2017 07. PMID: 28418996