Traumatic injury, blast injury, systemic inflammation and molecular signaling,  ischemia reperfusion injury, mutliple organ dysfunction,  wound healing, heterotopic ossification,  innate immune response, tissue regeneration, tolerance induction

Dr. Davis, Professor and Vice Chair of Research in the Department of Surgery, joined USU in February 2017. Dr. Davis has spent over 35 years in the areas of immune modulation, immunotherapy, radiation injury, stem cell research, experimental hematology, wound healing and transplantation biology.

Dr. Davis has had a long-standing interest in the mechanisms involved in acute cellular and organ injury in inflammatory states such as shock, trauma, and sepsis. His laboratory focuses research in two main areas. The first area investigates innate immune mechanisms leading to activation of inflammation following acute cellular and organ damage. There is a special emphasis on damage associated molecular pattern molecules (DAMPs) and pattern recognition receptors (PRR) in this response. Model systems include organ ischemia and reperfusion, as well as systemic insults such as blast, hemorrhagic shock, burn injury and severe musculoskeletal tissue loss and trauma. Analysis includes markers of inflammation, the immunological consequences of injury and inflammation, mechanisms of organ injury and genome wide studies. The second area of the laboratory is focused on advancing the field of tissue engineering and regenerative medicine through development of new strategies for preservation, repair, regeneration, augmentation, or replacement of musculoskeletal tissues following traumatic injury. His laboratory is focused on developing and testing new cell-based therapies for patients who suffer conditions that result ectopic bone development (heterotopic ossification), the loss of healthy tissue, including fractures, bone loss (osteoporosis), muscle loss and cartilage injuries. His research team is developing new methods and standards for measuring the number of stem and progenitor cells in different tissues of the body, to advance the entire field of cell and gene therapy. These methods can provide a new way to assess the health or disease state of a specific tissue and allow for the development of new cell therapies. The goal of all his research is to define mechanisms and identify therapeutic targets.

Dr. Davis’s research interests, which are funded by the Department of Defense and USUHS, include stem cell biology, musculoskeletal trauma, heterotopic ossification, muscle fibrosis, tissue regeneration, osseointegration, wound healing and repair, traumatic brain injury (TBI), and combat-related prolonged field care outcomes. He is the author of more than 125 scholarly articles and has delivered presentations worldwide and serves an ad hoc reviewer for numerous journals in his area of research.