Barb Katzenback

Professor Katzenback's research interests are in examining how environmental stress influences the immune system, and health, of amphibians with the goal of understanding how these interactions are contributing to the worldwide decline of amphibians. To this end, their research aims are to 1) elucidate the mechanisms of amphibian innate immunity, 2) characterize host-pathogen interactions and 3) study how abiotic environmental stressors (i.e. climate change, contaminants), alone or in combination with biotic stressors (pathogens), impact innate immune function and the health status of amphibians.

The North American wood frog (Rana sylvatica), a unique group of terrestrial hibernators that survive whole body freezing during winter months, and the African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis), a dehydration tolerant frog and well-studied model organism, are exciting models to analyze host-pathogen-environment interactions.

Current Research Themes in the Katzenback Lab:

1. Development of amphibian cell lines

2. Amphibian - Frog Virus 3 interactions

3. Regulation of innate immune defenses in response to environmental stressors.

• Innate immunity of amphibians

• Regulation of innate immune cell development (macrophages, neutrophils) from progenitor cell populations

• Host-pathogen-environment interactions

• PhD Physiology, Cell and Developmental Biology, University of Alberta, Canada

• BSc Honours Immunology and Infection (with Distinction), University of Alberta, Canada

• Canadian Society of Zoologists

• Amphibian Genomics Consortium

• International Society of Developmental and Comparative Immunology (ISDCI)

• International Antimicrobial Peptide Network

• Canadian Herpetological Society

• BIOL 309 - Analytical Methods in Molecular Biology
  • Taught in 2021, 2022
• BIOL 342 - Molecular Biotechnology 1
  • Taught in 2024, 2025
• BIOL 441 - Advances in Immunology
  • Taught in 2021, 2023, 2025, 2026
• BIOL 636 - Advanced Immunology
  • Taught in 2022, 2026

* Only courses taught in the past 5 years are displayed.

• For the full list of Barb Katzenback's publications, please see Google Scholar.

• Bui-Marinos MP, Varga JFA, Vo NTK, Bols NC and Katzenback BA. (2020). Xela DS2 and Xela VS2: two novel skin epithelial-like cell lines from adult African clawed frog (Xenopus laevis) and their response to an extracellular viral dsRNA analogue. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 112:103759. IF: 2.45 Free pre-print on bioRxiv 10.1101/2020.05.08.084723 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2020.103759.

• Douglas AJ and Katzenback BA. (2026). The Rana sylvatica skin-secreted antimicrobial peptide (AMP) gene repertoire highlights broader patterns in anuran AMP evolution. Scientific Reports. In Press. IF: 3.9 Open Access] [https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-43170-y

• Todd LA, Bui-Marinos MP and Katzenback BA. (2021). Post-transcriptional regulation of frog innate immunity: discovery of frog microRNAs associated with antiviral responses and ranavirus infection using a Xenopus laevis skin epithelial-like cell line. FACETS 6: 2058 – 2083. IF: NA Open Access] [https://doi.org/10.1139/facets-2021-0090

• Douglas AJ, Todd LA and Katzenback BA. (2023). The amphibian invitrome: Past, present, and future contributions to our understanding of amphibian immunity. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 142: 104644. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2023.104644

• Douglas AJ and Katzenback BA. (2023). The wood frog (Rana sylvatica): An emerging comparative model for anuran immunity and host-ranavirus interactions. Developmental and Comparative Immunology 147: 104733 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.dci.2023.104733