Richard Kew, Ph.D., Associate Professor.

Richard R. Kew, PhD 
Associate Professor of Pathology
Stony Brook University Medical Center
State University of New York at Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY 11794-8691

Tel: (631) 444-3941
Fax: (631) 444-3424
Email:
richard.kew@stonybrook.edu

Research Summary:

Dr. Kew’s lab is interested in how components of the innate immune system contribute to the pathology of tissue injury. A major focus of the lab is to determine how plasma and cell-derived cofactors regulate chemotactic signals that direct leukocytes from the blood to sites of inflammation. Several experimental approaches (biochemical, cellular, molecular and proteomic) are being utilized to investigate the mechanisms by which a ubiquitous albumin-like plasma protein, the vitamin D binding protein (DBP), regulates leukocyte migration to activated complement peptide C5a. Aberrant and/or excessive activation of complement, with subsequent generation of C5a, has been strongly associated with the pathogenesis of several inflammatory disorders. C5a is one of the most potent and physiologically important chemotactic factors. Understanding how this activity is regulated will have major physiological significance and may facilitate the design of therapeutics that can modulate excessive tissue recruitment of leukocytes from the blood.

Education:
Institution and Location Degree Year(s) Field of Study
University of Massachusetts
at Lowell Lowell, MA
B.S. 1979 Biological Sciences
University of Massachusetts
at Lowell Lowell, MA
M.S. 1981 Biochemistry
Stony Brook University
Stony Brook, NY
Ph.D 1986 Cellular & Molecular Pathology

Positions and Employment:
1986-1988 Postdoctoral Fellow, St. Louis University, St. Louis, MO
1989-1990 Research Fellow, Graduate Hospital and the University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
1990-2009 Assistant Professor of Pathology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY
1990-1992 Graduate Program Faculty in Cell & Molecular Pathology
1992-present Graduate Program Faculty in Molecular & Cellular Biology
2001-present Graduate Program Faculty in Molecular Genetics & Microbiology
2003-present Departmental Radiation Safety Officer
2006-2010  Member, University Radiation Protection Committee
2009-present  Chair, University Laboratory Safety Council
2009-present  Senator, School of Medicine Faculty Senate
2010-present Associate Professor of Pathology with tenure, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, NY

Other Experience and Professional Memberships (selected):
1991-present  Society for Leukocyte Biology
1994-present American Association of Immunologists
2005-present International Complement Society
2010 Local Organizing Committee for the XXIII International Complement Workshop, New York City
2010 Awards Committee for the International Complement Society

Honors:
1979 Biological Sciences Senior Research Award, University of Massachusetts at Lowell
1989 Recipient of a Hulda and George McKay Research Fellowship
1991 Young Investigator Award from the Society for Leukocyte Biology
2000 Leadership Award from the Heart Council of Long Island
2005 Promising Inventor Award from Research Foundation of SUNY
2007  Mentor Award from the University of Texas Medical School at Houston
2009 Awarded U.S. patent number 7,547,676 entitled “Antagonist Peptides to the C5a Chemotactic Function of the Vitamin D Binding Protein
2010 Inventor Award from the Town of Brookhaven, New York

Peer Reviewed Publications: