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PHRI Scientist Receives Excellence in Research Award |
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 We are very proud to announce that Dr. Gilla Kaplan, professor and senior faculty member at PHRI, was honored with an "Excellence in Research Award" by the UMDNJ Foundation as a recognition for her outstanding research during the past academic year. She received her award at the 2010 New Jersey Medical School Convocation, which was held on May 24, 2010, at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center (NJPAC) in Newark. For more information on Dr. Kaplan’s research, please visit her web site.
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Dr. Gilla Kaplan receives her award from Dr. Robert
Johnson
and in presence of Dr. George Heinrich.
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Paper Highlight - Kunnath-Velayudhan et al, 2010. Dynamic antibody responses to the Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteome |
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Considerable effort has been directed toward controlling tuberculosis (TB), which kills almost two million people yearly. High on the research agenda is the discovery of biomarkers of active TB for diagnosis and for monitoring treatment outcome. Rational biomarker discovery requires understanding host-pathogen interactions leading to biomarker expression. An international, multi-center research team led by Marila Gennaro at PHRI/UMDNJ reports in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (Open Access on Publisher's web site) a systems immunology approach to TB biomarker discovery. The group integrated clinical data, bacterial metabolic and regulatory information with high-throughput detection in human serum of antibodies to the entire Mycobacterium tuberculosis proteome. Sera collected from more than 500 TB suspects world-wide (11 countries) recognized about 10% of the bacterial proteome. This result defines the M. tuberculosis immunoproteome, which is rich in membrane-associated and extracellular proteins. Additional analyses revealed that during active tuberculosis, (i) antibody responses focused on a about 0.5% of the proteome enriched for extracellular proteins, (ii) relative target preference varied among patients, and (iii) responses correlated with bacillary burden. These results indicate that the B-cell response tracks the evolution of infection and the pathogen burden and replicative state, and suggest functions associated with B-cell-rich foci seen in tuberculous lung granulomas. The integrated proteome-scale approach taken by the UMDNJ investigators, together with their partners at AbaSci, LLC (Albany, California), Istituto San Raffaele (Milan, Italy), Antigen Discovery Inc. (Irvine, California), and the Foundation for Innovative and New Diagnostics (Geneva, Switzerland), is applicable to other chronic infections characterized by diverse antibody target recognition.
To download a copy of this publication, please follow this link
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Antibiotic Resistance: Understanding and Responding to an Emerging Crisis, Rough Cuts |
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 The impact of antibiotic resistance is only beginning to be felt by the general public. But the popular press is beginning to recount horror stories of families colonized by MRSA and manhunts for carriers of XDR tuberculosis. There is no doubt that antibiotic resistance will touch everyone. In Antibiotic Resistance, PHRI scientists Drs. Karl Drlica and David Perlin provide an entry-level description that provides access to infectious diseases in a way that is immediately useful. From this perspective, the potential market is everyone except infectious disease experts who are already familiar with the mutant selection window hypothesis. Within the health care community, the primary readers will be first-year medical students, pharmacy students, veterinary students, and practicing physicians. Some college instructors will find the book well suited for biology specialty courses. As the importance of antibiotic resistance grows, the market will expand to politicians -- everyone has a role in this problem, and everyone needs to contribute to the solution. For more information, please visit the publisher's web site at www.ftpress.com.
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 Employment Opportunities
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News & Noteworthy |
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08.17.10 |
A new NIH grant for 3 million dollars has just been awarded to Drs. Gloria Marcela Rodriguez and Issar Smith (Co-Principal Investigators) of the PHRI center and the Department of Medicine at the New Jersey Medical School-UMDNJ. The grant is entitled "Mechanisms and Regulation of Mycobacterium tuberculosis iron acquisition" and is awarded for a period of 5 years. The project has long been a subject of Dr. Rodriguez and Dr. Smith's work, and in the new grant period, they seek to understand the mechanisms of how the pathogen M. tuberculosis acquires the essential element iron and to use this information to develop new anti-tubercular therapies.
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07.27.10 |
PHRI organizes the 2010 Summer High School Research Internship Program. For more information visit the Summer Internship's web site
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05.23.10 |
Angella Dorsey-Oresto, a PhD candidate in the laboratory of Dr. Karl Drlica at PHRI, was honored with the 2010
“Outstanding Student of the Year” award in recognition of excellence in academics, research, and service.
The award was presented by the UMDNJ Faculty Organization.
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04.08.10 |
Thomas Reuters reports on the Celgene Corporation, a multinational biopharmaceutical company,
and the vital contributions of PHRI scientist Gilla Kaplan in developing the company.
Please visit the following link to download a pdf copy of this article.
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Upcoming Seminar Series |
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09.07.10 |
Xueling Wu, Vaccine Research Center, NIAID, NIH
Isolation and characterization of neutralizing monoclonal antibodies targeting the CD4-binding site of HIV-1 envelope
click here for more information
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09.14.10 |
Michael Lagunoff, University of Washington
Induction of the Warburg effect and lymphangiogenesis by KSHV latent infection
click here for more information
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09.21.10 |
Nihal Altan-Bonnet , Rutgers University
Viral Interior Design: Generating Organelle Platforms for Replication
click here for more information
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