PHRI News 2009 and 2010

	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.
	03.26.10	We are extremely pleased to report that Dr. Abraham Pinter, a senior faculty member at PHRI, has been awarded a five year $15.9 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's HIVRAD program (HIV Research and Development) to help develop a novel HIV vaccine platform. In addition, PHRI is actively recruiting two other well funded HIV specialists to establish a cluster of excellence in HIV research at PHRI. The basis for Dr. Pinter's vaccine strategy is the long-standing recognition that, unlike other types of viral infections, infection with HIV fails to elicit a broadly protective antibody response. Thus, despite the production of high antibody titers in HIV-infected subjects, these antibodies usually fail to neutralize typical viruses isolated from patients. Dr. Pinter's group has been studying the mechanisms for the resistance of primary HIV isolates to neutralization by common antibodies, and has identified conformational masking of sensitive neutralization targets as a major factor for this effect. These studies have identified a new class of 'quaternary' epitopes that are not susceptible to masking and are recognized by antibodies present in some immune sera. These epitopes are dependent on the native trimeric surface protein structures of HIV. The goal of Dr. Pinter's new program is to define the sequences and structure of this novel class of target, and to develop new vaccines that incorporate these antigens and are capable of inducing related antibody activities. This vaccine program involves a collaboration with several core laboratories at PHRI - NJMS along with researchers from three other institutions (Tulane University, the University of Washington, and the NICD in South Africa). Please follow this link to read the press release posted by the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey.
	12.14.09	On December 14, 2009, the Public Health Research Institute Center at the UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School hosted a symposium to celebrate the career of Dr. Lee Reichman. The symposium took place at the PHRI Center / UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School. Presentations were provided by Gerald Friedland of Yale University Medical Center, Philip C. Hopewell of the University of California at San Francisco, Michael D. Iseman of the University of Colorado, Wafaa El-Sadr of the Harlem Hospital, Melvin Spigelman of the Global Alliance against TB, and Kenneth Castro of the CDC. The speakers have graciously agreed to publish their presentations and you may download the series of presentations in a single PDF file (size is 10.5 MB) by selecting the following link: Download Symposium Presentations
	11.02.09	Karl Drlica, PHRI faculty and member of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, was selected the 2009 Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences at the NJ Medical School ‘Mentor of the Year.’
	10.14.09	On October 14th, 2009, the PHRI Center organizinged its 7th Annual Summer High School Intern Program Symposium. Please download the Symposium Announcement for more details.

PHRI News from Prior Years

	12.11.08	PHRI is proud to announce that New Jersey Business magazine, in cooperation with Technology-based Trade Associations in New Jersey, has recognized PHRI Scientist Dr. Fred Russell Kramer as one of the Top 10 New Jersey Scientists. In their December 2008 issue, Fred Kramer, together with the other selected Top 10 scientists, will be featured, describing their innovative contributions to science and society. Please follow this link to download a pdf copy of the New Jersey Business magazine’s story on "NJ's Top 10 Scientists - Special Recognition." For a description of Fred Kramer’s research interest and biography, please visit this link.
	12.10.08	The Public Health Research Institute, together with the Emerging Infectious Diseases and Microbiology Discussion Group, had the privilege to organize a symposium to celebrate the career of Dr. Issar Smith (Smitty). Dr. Smith has spent over 42 years at the Public Health Research Institute studying the control of sporulation and gene regulation in Bacillus subtilis and pathogenesis in Mycobacterium tuberculosis. The event took place on December 10, 2008, at the New York Academy of Sciences. Presentations were given by Stanley Falkow of Stanford University, David Dubnau of the PHRI, Richard M. Losick of Harvard College, Brigitte Gicquel of Institut Pasteur, David Russell of Cornell University, and Michael D. Iseman of the University of Colorado. The presentations were followed by a reception in honor of Dr. Smith. For more details on this symposium and other events at the New York Academy of Sciences, please visit the Academy's web site.
	10.15.08	6th Annual PHRI Summer High School Intern Symposium For more information on this event, please download the Symposium Announcement.
	09.24.08	Dr. Marila Genanaro of the Public Health Research Institute of the New Jersey Medical School and Dr. Mark Doherty of the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, under the auspices of the STOP TB Working Group on Diagnostics, and with the support of the Foundation for New and Innovative Diagnostics (FIND), the Special Program for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases (TDR) at the World Health Organization, the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, organized an International Conference on "Immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis: new questions, new tools." The conference, which took place from September 21 to September 23, 2008, at the Founder's Inn & Spa, Virginia Beach,VA, USA, resulted in many interdisciplinary discussions and collaborations among scientists having different but related interests. These interests range from basic microbiology and immunology, to the science of establishing field studies, and to research leading to new strategies of biomarker discovery and new assay platforms. For more information, please visit the conference's web site at www.tb-conference.com In addition, the New Jersey Medical School posted an E-news Highlight on this event. To read this news item on "Scientists Worldwide Gather for Scientific Tuberculosis Conference", please follow this link.
	09.18.08	PHRI Scientists Drs. Abe Pinter and Xilin Zhao are members of an elite group out of more than 4,000 applications to each receive $100,000 awards, as part of a new Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges Explorations program. This US$100 million initiative is intended to encourage bold and unconventional global health solutions. Dr. Pinter's group proposed a novel approach to kill HIV through an immunotherapy. Dr. Zhao proposed a new approach to kill Mycobacterium Tuberculosis by inducing an altered and more sensitive physiological state in the bacterium. Both Drs. Pinter and Zhao can apply for up to $1 million in support after year 1. Dr. Arkady Mustaev, who has worked with Dr. Alex Goldfarb over the years, successfully obtained a NIH RO1 grant for his work on the mechanism of RNA polymerase in E. coli.
	08.05.08	The NY Times publishes a letter submitted by PHRI Director, David Perlin, with his commentary on an article entitled “Anthrax Case Renews Questions on Bioterror Effort and Safety”. Please follow these links to download a copy of the NY times article and the letter to the editor.
	07.15.08	Dr. Karl Drlica, a PHRI Principal Investigator, has co-edited a new volume in Springer Verlag’s series “Emerging Infectious Diseases of the 21st Century”. The title of his book is “Antimicrobial Resistance and Implications for the 21st Century”. For more information, please follow this link
	06.06.08	The Center for Applied Genomics is expanding its microarray expression profiling and SNP genotyping services beyond research to include clinical diagnostic testing. This has been made possible through a new CLIA-site license granted to the Institute of Genomic Medicine for the ICPH building. The Institute for Genomic Medicine already operates several additional CLIA-certified clinical diagnostic laboratories at their MSB location. For more information, please visit www.cag.icph.org
	06.06.08	PHRI scientist, Dr. Marila Gennaro, participates in the First HIV-TB Global Leader’s Forum, which is being held in conjunction with the meeting of the United Nation’s General Assembly on HIV/AIDS. For more information on this forum, please visit www.stoptb.org/events/hivtbleaders
	05.20.08	National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) awards grant to Dr. Abraham Pinter, a PHRI scientist, to support research towards developing HIV vaccines click here to view the NIH News announcement.
	05.04.08	The Public Health Research Institute of the New Jersey Medical School and the Statens Serum Institut, Copenhagen, Denmark, are organizing an International Conference on "Immunodiagnosis of tuberculosis: new questions, new tools"
	12.13.07	Fourth Annual PHRI Symposium on Infectious Diseases click here for information on this event.
	10.02.07	Bill & Melinda Gates Award UMDNJ $1.5 Million Grant for Tuberculosis Study by School of Public Health Researcher click here to read the press-release
	05.11.06	Press Release: Beijing Lab Honored with Gates Grand Challenge Award in Global Health
	05.11.06	Press Release: FIND, ImmPORT, and PHRI announce collaboration to develop critical diagnostic reagents for tuberculosis