- Adjunct Professor, Global Health
- Professor, Pediatrics - Infectious Diseases
- Senior Investigator, Center for Global Infectious Disease Research (CGIDR)
- Multiple Principal Investigator, SEATRAC, Seattle Tuberculosis Research Advancement Center
- Member, Brotman Baty Institute
Seattle Children's Research Institute
Jack R. MacDonald Building
1900 9th Ave
Seattle, WA 98101
United States
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Rhea Coler is an Adjunct Professor in the Department of Global Health and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Washington and a Senior Investigator at SCRI. Her translational research focuses on biomarker discovery and on developing vaccines or host-directed therapies for pandemic infectious diseases caused by Mycobacterium tuberculosis, nontuberculous mycobacteria, and positive strand RNA viruses. Studies currently in progress in the Coler lab aim to elucidate mechanisms of protection mediated by various prophylactic and therapeutic approaches including the application of novel adjuvants, RNA vaccine delivery and combinatorial regimens to further improve these outcomes. As a member of the Infectious Diseases Clinical Research Consortium (IDCRC) and a Vaccine and Treatment Evaluation Units (VTEUs) site, Dr. Coler is also working on clinical trials of therapeutics and prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for a variety of infectious disease pathogens in both domestic and international sites, including South Korea, Colombia, Brazil, Peru, Senegal, South Africa and India. Results from her work has resulted in several patents, three start-up biotechnology companies, and translation of several infectious disease vaccines from preclinical to clinical development.
Dr. Coler serves on the Boards of the Washington Global Health Alliance (WGHA), the ARCS Foundation Seattle Chapter and the New York Community Trust Heiser Program for Research. Her work has been funded by NIH/NIAID, the Gates Foundation, Paul Allen G. Family Foundation, Medical Research Council, Wellcome Trust, European Commission, and PATH. She has published more than 140 peer-reviewed articles. Dr. Coler began her infectious disease career with field work on malaria control in Tanzania, followed by research on arboviruses, entomology and parasitology at the Caribbean Epidemiology Center (CAREC) in Trinidad, West Indies. She received her BSc from McGill University, MSc from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, and PhD from the University of Washington.
In addition to her IMPAc-TB contract award and IDCRC/VTEU funding, Dr. Coler is currently a Multiple Principal Investigator of the Seattle Tuberculosis Research Advancement Center (SEATRAC) and received 2 new R01s in 2024.
- PhD (University of Washington)
- MSc (London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (UK))
- BSc (McGill University (Canada))
- Biodefense Infectious Diseases
- Burden of Disease
- Clinical Mentoring
- Drug and Vaccine Development
- Education and Training
- Host-Pathogen Interactions
- Immunizations
- Implementation Science
- Infectious Diseases
- Influenza
- Innate Immunity
- Laboratory Strengthening
- Leadership and Organizational Development
- Leishmaniasis
- Malaria
- Molecular Immunology
- Neglected Diseases, Tropical Medicine (incl. Parasites)
- Pathobiology
- Pathogenesis
- Poverty
- Prevention
- Pulmonary Diseases and Pneumonia
- Research
- Respiratory Disease
- TB
- Trop. Med (incl. Parasites)
- Viruses
- Waterborne Diseases
- Zoonotic Diseases and Animal Health
Candidate vaccines for tuberculosis, leishmaniasis, malaria, HIV, West Nile virus, anthrax and influenza.
Abdelaal HFM, Berube BJ, Podell BK, Harband MH, Gary HE, Perez-Jaimes M, Ackart DF, Reese VA, Larsen SE, Pecor T, Wilkins DZ, Parish T, Maloney-Norcross SE, Mecham JB, Hickey AJ, Baldwin SL, Coler RN. Assessment of tuberculosis drug efficacy using preclinical animal models and in vitro predictive techniques. NPJ Antimicrob Resist. 2024 Dec 16;2(1):49. doi: 10.1038/s44259-024-00066-z. PMID: 39843983.
Fiore-Gartland A, Srivastava H, Seese A, Day T, Penn-Nicholson A, Luabeya AKK, Du Plessis N, Loxton AG, Bekker LG, Diacon A, Walzl G, Sagawa ZK, Reed SG, Scriba TJ, Hatherill M, Coler R. Co-regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses induced by ID93+GLA-SE vaccination in humans. Front Immunol. 2024 Sep 24;15:1441944. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2024.1441944. eCollection 2024. PMID: 39381003.
Larsen SE, Reese VA, Pecor T, Berube BJ, Cooper SK, Brewer G, Ordway D, Henao-Tamayo M, Podell BK, Baldwin SL, Coler RN. Subunit vaccine protects against a clinical isolate of Mycobacterium avium in wild type and immunocompromised mouse models. Sci Rep. 2021 Apr 27;11(1):9040. doi: 10.1038/s41598-021-88291-8. PMID: 33907221; PMCID: PMC8079704.
Coler RN, Day TA, Ellis R, Piazza FM, Beckmann AM, Vergara J, Rolf T, Lu L, Alter G, Hokey D, Jayashankar L, Walker R, Snowden MA, Evans T, Ginsberg A, Reed SG, Team T-S. The TLR-4 agonist adjuvant, GLA-SE, improves magnitude and quality of immune responses elicited by the ID93 tuberculosis vaccine: first-in-human trial. NPJ Vaccines. 2018;3:34. doi: 10.1038/s41541-018-0057-5. PMID: 30210819.
Van Hoeven N, Wiley S, Gage E, Fiore-Gartland A, Granger B, Gray S, Fox C, Clements DE, Parks DE, Winram S, Stinchcomb DT, Reed SG, Coler RN. A combination of TLR-4 agonist and saponin adjuvants increases antibody diversity and protective efficacy of a recombinant West Nile Virus antigen. NPJ Vaccines. 2018;3:39. doi: 10.1038/s41541-018-0077-1. PMID: 30302281.
Baldwin SL, Hsu FC, Van Hoeven N, Gage E, Granger B, Guderian JA, Larsen SE, Lorenzo EC, Haynes L, Reed SG, Coler RN. Improved Immune Responses in Young and Aged Mice with Adjuvanted Vaccines against H1N1 Influenza Infection. Front Immunol. 2018 Feb 19;9:295. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2018.00295. eCollection 2018. PMID: 29515589.
Bertholet S, Ireton GC, Ordway DJ, Windish HP, Pine SO, Kahn M, Phan T, Orme IM, Vedvick TS, Baldwin SL, Reed SG , Coler RN. A defined tuberculosis vaccine candidate boosts BCG and protects against multidrug-resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Science translational medicine. 2010;2(53):53ra74. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.3001094. PMID: 20944089.