About

Peter A. Ward, M.D., is a distinguished faculty member within the Department of Pathology at the University of Michigan. His work is primarily focused on understanding the pathobiologic basis of human disease through basic science and translational research. His research encompasses multiple areas including cancer biology, development, neuroscience, epigenetics, aging, mucosal biology, immunology, inflammation, and therapeutics. Dr. Ward's laboratory efforts are supported by laboratory staff, graduate students, and postdoctoral researchers, contributing to advancements in understanding disease mechanisms and developing therapies. He is also involved in the department's experimental pathology research, which aims to bridge basic science with clinical applications, fostering innovations in diagnostics and treatment strategies. His contributions are integral to the department's mission of advancing knowledge in pathology and improving patient outcomes through research and education.

Research topics

• Medicine
• Immunology
• Chemistry
• Biology
• Biochemistry

Selected publications

• How safe is kitesurfing? A review of orthopaedic kitesurfing injuries

  Irish Journal of Medical Science (1971 -) · 2025-04-16 · 2 citations

  review
  PublisherDOI

• Innovative outpatient treatment for veterans and service members and their family members

  Frontiers in Psychiatry · 2024-07-24 · 1 citations

  articleOpen access

  In 2009, Massachusetts General Hospital and the Red Sox Foundation launched Home Base, a nonprofit dedicated to providing care to veterans, service members, and their loved ones who struggle with the invisible wounds of war free of charge. Significant needs exist for mental health services in each of these populations, and a need for innovative approaches to address shortcomings in existing treatment models. Three inventive components of our programming are highlighted herein: a Veteran Outreach Team, which helps to engage patients in care, programming, and services specifically for family members, and an intensive outpatient substance use treatment program. More than 4,000 patients, 3,031 veterans and service members, and 1,025 family members have engaged in treatment at Home Base. Patients were asked to complete post-treatment self-measures, including a satisfaction questionnaire via an electronic data collection system. The vast majority of individuals who engaged in our treatment model were satisfied with the care they received (>92%) and would refer their peers to the Home Base program (>75%). Data from 78 individuals who completed the dual diagnosis services demonstrated large effect sizes in reductions in alcohol use and comorbid mental health symptoms. These data suggest that novel components to the standard outpatient mental health model might provide substantive benefits for the patients served. While internal data is prone to a lack of generalizability, these additional offerings help ameliorate patients' expressed shortcomings with existing models; present literature that describes the benefits that these additions provide is also reviewed. The lessons learned and limitations are discussed.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• The Impact of Extracellular Histones and Absence of Toll-like Receptors on Cardiac Functional and Electrical Disturbances in Mouse Hearts

  International Journal of Molecular Sciences · 2024-08-08 · 4 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  In polymicrobial sepsis, the extracellular histones, mainly released from activated neutrophils, significantly contribute to cardiac dysfunction (septic cardiomyopathy), as demonstrated in our previous studies using Echo-Doppler measurements. This study aims to elucidate the roles of extracellular histones and their interactions with Toll-like receptors (TLRs) in cardiac dysfunction. Through ex vivo assessments of ECG, left ventricle (LV) function parameters, and in vivo Echo-Doppler studies in mice perfused with extracellular histones, we aim to provide comprehensive insights into the mechanisms underlying sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Langendorff-perfused hearts from both wild-type and TLR2, TLR3, or TLR4 knockout (KO) mice were examined. Paced mouse hearts were perfused with histones to assess contractility and relaxation. Echo-Doppler studies evaluated cardiac dysfunction after intravenous histone injection. Histone perfusion caused defects in contractility and relaxation, with TLR2 and TLR3 KO mice being partially protected. Specifically, TLR2 KO mice exhibited the greatest reduction in Echo-Doppler abnormalities, while TLR4 KO exacerbated cardiac dysfunction. Among individual histones, H1 induced the most pronounced abnormalities in cardiac function, apoptosis of cardiomyocytes, and LDH release. Our data highlight significant interactions between histones and TLRs, providing insights into histones especially H1 as potential therapeutic targets for septic cardiomyopathy. Further studies are needed to explore specific histone-TLR interactions and their mechanisms.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Final recommendations for macroprolactin

  Pathology · 2023-01-27

  articleOpen access
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reinventing Backend Subsetting at Google

  Communications of the ACM · 2023-04-21 · 3 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Designing an algorithm with reduced connection churn that could replace deterministic subsetting.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Externalized histones fuel pulmonary fibrosis via a platelet-macrophage circuit of TGFβ1 and IL-27

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2023-09-27 · 30 citations

  articleOpen access

  Externalized histones erupt from the nucleus as extracellular traps, are associated with several acute and chronic lung disorders, but their implications in the molecular pathogenesis of interstitial lung disease are incompletely defined. To investigate the role and molecular mechanisms of externalized histones within the immunologic networks of pulmonary fibrosis, we studied externalized histones in human and animal bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) samples of lung fibrosis. Neutralizing anti-histone antibodies were administered in bleomycin-induced fibrosis of C57BL/6 J mice, and subsequent studies used conditional/constitutive knockout mouse strains for TGFβ and IL-27 signaling along with isolated platelets and cultured macrophages. We found that externalized histones (citH3) were significantly ( P < 0.01) increased in cell-free BAL fluids of patients with idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF; n = 29) as compared to healthy controls ( n = 10). The pulmonary sources of externalized histones were Ly6G + CD11b + neutrophils and nonhematopoietic cells after bleomycin in mice. Neutralizing monoclonal anti-histone H2A/H4 antibodies reduced the pulmonary collagen accumulation and hydroxyproline concentration. Histones activated platelets to release TGFβ1, which signaled through the TGFbRI/TGFbRII receptor complex on LysM + cells to antagonize macrophage-derived IL-27 production. TGFβ1 evoked multiple downstream mechanisms in macrophages, including p38 MAPK, tristetraprolin, IL-10, and binding of SMAD3 to the IL-27 promotor regions. IL-27RA-deficient mice displayed more severe collagen depositions suggesting that intact IL-27 signaling limits fibrosis. In conclusion, externalized histones inactivate a safety switch of antifibrotic, macrophage-derived IL-27 by boosting platelet-derived TGFβ1. Externalized histones are accessible to neutralizing antibodies for improving the severity of experimental pulmonary fibrosis.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Review for "Macrophage-1 antigen exacerbates histone-induced acute lung injury and promotes neutrophil extracellular trap formation"

  2023-07-17

  peer-review1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

• Review 2: "SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as a bacterial lipopolysaccharide delivery system in an overzealous inflammatory cascade"

  2022-02-14

  peer-reviewOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  This preprint explores binding of SARS-CoV-2 spike protein with lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and its role in increased inflammatory response. Reviewers find presented evidence reliable, while exercising caution with presented generalizations regarding use of drugs blocking TLR4-LPS.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reviews of "SARS-CoV-2 spike protein as a bacterial lipopolysaccharide delivery system in an overzealous inflammatory cascade"

  2022-02-14

  peer-reviewOpen accessSenior author
  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Reinventing Backend Subsetting at Google

  Queue · 2022-10-31 · 4 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Backend subsetting is useful for reducing costs and may even be necessary for operating within the system limits. For more than a decade, Google used deterministic subsetting as its default backend subsetting algorithm, but although this algorithm balances the number of connections per backend task, deterministic subsetting has a high level of connection churn. Our goal at Google was to design an algorithm with reduced connection churn that could replace deterministic subsetting as the default backend subsetting algorithm.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Frequent coauthors

• R. D. Hoare

  248 shared

• Roger L. Kaesler

  239 shared

• T Councilors

  Grantmakers for Effective Organizations

  164 shared

• Ann Arbor

  Klinikum Saarbrücken

  149 shared

• Don C. Steinker

  148 shared

• John Pojeta

  United States Geological Survey

  139 shared

• Mark A. Wilson

  139 shared

• Donald L. Wolberg

  139 shared