Microbiology and Molecular Genetics

Source: GMToday.com

High school senior participates in two-year research program guided by Dr. Joseph Barbieri after being inspired to medical field by her mother’s battle with cancer.

Entire Article

Source: 12/24/2007 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a two-year, $165,970 grant from the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke to study botulism, a disease that can weaken or paralyze skeletal muscle. The disease is caused by intoxication with botulinum neurotoxin (BoNT), one of the most poisonous substances in the world.

Michael R. Baldwin, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow in Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, is principal investigator for the grant.

Dr. Baldwin will identify and characterize the BoNT nerve cell receptor proteins to understand how BoNTs bind and enter into nerve cells. Using molecular modeling and bioinformatics to identify the receptors will provide opportunities for the development of therapies to fight against BoNT intoxication as well as improved clinical therapeutic methods that use BoNTs.

Source: 12/24/2007 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

Scott Terhune, PhD, has been appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin. His research interests include identifying how viral proteins from the cytomegalovirus manipulate human cells during infection. 

Cytomegalovirus infects and lies dormant in most people, but can emerge as a serious illness in people with weakened immune systems, such as transplant patients, AIDS patients and some newborns. The only treatment doctors currently have for the virus is an antiviral drug called gancyclovir.

Further understanding of the virus is important because approximately half of all organ or bone marrow transplant patients experience some complication with cytomegalovirus. Women who experience a reactivation of cytomegalovirus or become infected with it during pregnancy risk passing it on to the fetus. This can lead to birth defects, including deafness and mental retardation.

Dr. Terhune comes to the Medical College from Princeton University in New Jersey, where he recently completed a postdoctoral fellowship. While at Princeton, he was also an instructor of molecular biology.

He has authored or co-authored eight journal articles. He received his PhD in biological sciences from the Northwestern University Medical School in Chicago in 2000.  He received his bachelor of arts from Northwestern University in Evanston, Ill., in 1991.

Source: 11/12/2007 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

Paula Traktman, PhD, Chairman and Walter Schroeder Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, was one of 471 members awarded the distinction of Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) this year. Fellows are elevated because of their efforts toward advancing science applications that are deemed scientifically or socially distinguished. 

Dr. Traktman was honored for distinguished contributions to virology, particularly for elucidating how viruses faithfully duplicate their chromosomes and then coordinate the assembly of new infectious virus particles. She will be presented with an official certificate and a gold rosette pin on Saturday, Feb. 16, at the Fellows Forum during the 2008 AAAS Annual Meeting in Boston. 

"Dr. Traktman's distinguished work holds great promise for the future of medicine," said Michael J. Dunn, MD, Dean and Executive Vice President. "Beyond its implications for treatment of infectious diseases, results of this genetic research are uncovering the basic rules that govern both simple and complex systems. These models of how genes regulate cell function have ramifications in many areas, including cancer research." 

A genetics researcher, Dr. Traktman graduated magna cum laude from Harvard University in 1974, and received her PhD in biology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981. Following a period of postdoctoral training at Harvard Medical, she joined the faculty of the Cornell University Medical College (now the Weill Medical College of Cornell University) in 1984.  In 1997, Dr. Traktman came to the Medical College to assume the chairmanship of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics.

For many years, most of Dr. Traktman's work has involved vaccinia virus, which is a first cousin of the smallpox virus and is used as the vaccine that protects people against smallpox. Understanding the intricate choreography of the vaccinia virus life cycle is a stepping-stone to developing new antivirals for therapeutic use in treatment of poxviral infections. Although smallpox virus has been eradicated as a natural pathogen, it is now feared as a possible agent of bioterrorist attacks and development of antiviral agents is of high priority. Other important poxviruses that infect humans are monkeypox virus and molluscum contagiosum virus.

Results from Dr. Traktman's research are providing insight into the basic rules that govern cell division, and as such have broad ramifications that extend beyond infectious disease to such areas of human health as cancer and infertility.

Dr. Traktman has a long history of obtaining extramural support from the National Institutes of Health. She has also received grant support from the American Cancer Society, the National Science Foundation, and the Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin initiative.

In addition to research, Dr. Traktman is involved in the educational programs of the Medical College, and serves as the Director of the Interdisciplinary Graduate Program in Biomedical Science.

She has also served on the Editorial Boards of Virology and the Journal of Virology, and has served on the Virology Study Section of the National Institutes of Health. Dr. Traktman is on the Executive Board of the Great Lakes Regional Center for Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases, and is currently President of the Association of Microbiology and Immunology Medical School Chairs.

The tradition of AAAS Fellows began in 1874. Members are now considered for the rank of Fellow if nominated by the Steering Group of their respective sections, by three Fellows, or by the association's Chief Executive Officer.  Each Steering Group then reviews the nominations of individuals within its respective Section and forwards a final list to the AAAS Council.
 

Source: 10/1/2007 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a five-year, $1.8 million grant from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to study the injection of toxins into epithelial cells by a bacterial pathogen. These studies may ultimately provide opportunities to develop therapeutics that prevent damage to tissues and limit bacterial growth. The grant is from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases.

Dara W. Frank, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, is principal investigator for the grant. Dr. Frank is also director of the Medical College's Center for Biopreparedness and Infectious Diseases.

She believes that the localization of a cofactor for membrane integrity may govern the toxin's biologic activities and promote either colonization or spreading at certain stages of bacterial invasion. Understanding how eukaryotic elements critical to bacterial toxin activity work together will allow the development of inhibitors that interrupt the natural progression to serious infections. This may result in a combination of therapies that could help patients who are critically ill or in the early stages of chronic infection.
 

Source: 1/22/2007 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

 In response to the federal government's high priority for accelerated research to combat bird flu and bioterrorism, the Medical College of Wisconsin has been awarded a five-year, $8.1 million grant from the National Institutes of Health's Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to develop a rapid, miniaturized, automated diagnostic device to test for avian flu and the majority of potential bioterrorism agents. The device would be used in an outpatient setting.

The new integrated device the researchers are developing may allow cost effective, point-of-care diagnosis of these agents within one to two hours, according to principal investigator Kelly Henrickson, MD, Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the College. Dr. Henrickson is also a pediatric infectious disease specialist at Children's Hospital of Wisconsin.

Dr. Henrickson previously developed the Hexaplex diagnostic test, using specialized reagents and genetic data for rapid, accurate simultaneous detection of the seven most common lower respiratory viruses, including several varieties of influenza.  This technology is the basis for an array of products for physicians worldwide to rapidly detect the microbes responsible for a variety of illnesses such as aseptic meningitis, chicken pox, chronic cough syndrome, encephalitis, herpes, influenza, pneumonia, SARS, shingles, and West Nile virus.

"Our laboratory has pioneered a flexible, rapid, sensitive and specific method of simultaneously detecting multiple pathogens," said Dr. Henrickson. "We have recently developed two BioTplex assays that detect many (15) category 'A' bioterrorism agents. However, new amplified DNA detection and nucleic acid purification methods beyond those used in the Hexaplex diagnostic test allow for the development of a single 'point-of-care' device that may enhance the speed, flexibility, throughput, and cost effectiveness of multiplex assays."

Infectious agents identified to pose the greatest potential threat (Category "A" agents) include Variola major (smallpox), Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Yersinia pestis (plague), Clostridium botulinum toxin (botulism), Francisella tularensis (tularaemia), and a group of RNA viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers (VHFs).

Another agent of grave concern is avian flu. Additional concern exists over bird-to-human spread of avian flu and the potential adaptation for human-to-human spread. Terrorists could take advantage of avian flu's flexibility and engineer more virulent strains capable of causing worldwide pandemics. Current diagnostic assays are directed to the common human isolates of influenza A, but no assay is available to detect all of the avian varieties of influenza A, according to Dr. Henrickson. 

The Medical College of Wisconsin, Children's Hospital, Children's Research Institute and Nanogen Inc. will participate in carrying out the work of the grant.
 

Source: 10/30/2006 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

The Medical College of Wisconsin was ranked the 34th best place in academia to work by The Scientist, up from 50th place in 2005. The rankings are part of the publications' 2006 Best Places to Work in Academia listing, which includes institutions in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Institutions ranked ahead of the College include Yale University (30), University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (29), and Harvard Medical School (22). Institutions ranked behind the College include the University of Washington (35), the University of Illinois (36), Boston University (37) and the University of Iowa (38).

Rankings are based on the more than 1,600 Web-based survey responses The Scientist received from tenured and tenure-track life scientists. As part of the survey, respondents were asked to evaluate their institution on 39 factors in eight different areas.

According to respondents from the College, three of MCW's strengths are pay, teaching and mentoring.

A total of 97 U.S. institutions were ranked.

Source: 6/26/2006 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

Paula Traktman, PhD, Walter Schroeder Professor of Microbiology and Chairman of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, received a one-year, $496,375 grant from the Natural Center for Research Resources to purchase a new electron microscope. The grant application featured the work of five major and nine minor users; the microscope will be situated in the shared Electron Microscopy Facility and will enable College faculty to perform state-of-the art ultrastructural studies.

The new microscope, a JEOL 2100 LaB6 Transmission electron microscope, is equipped with a GATAN Ultrascan 1000 digital camera. The microscope has capabilities the College's existing microscope does not have, including digital image acquisition, multi-specimen holder, motorized 5-axis precision goniometer, 200 kV emission current and remote access microscopy.
The software package provided with the camera has the capability of generating tomographic reconstructions and enables image acquisition and analysis.

Abstract for JEOL 2100 LaB6 Transmission Electron Microscope and GATAN Ultrascan 1000 Camera.
 

Source: 3/20/2006 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

The Medical College of Wisconsin has received a five-year, $378,750 grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to find the factors that make the bacterium Francisella tularensis highly infectious. Infection with this bacterium can cause tularemia, a plague-like disease primarily found in rodents that can be transferred to humans.

Dara Frank, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, is principal investigator of the grant, titled Regulation of Gene Expression in Francisella. Dr. Frank is also director of the Medical College's Center for Biopreparedness and Infectious Disease. Thomas C. Zahrt, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, is a co-investigator.

There is currently no licensed vaccine to protect against F. tularensis infections, to which humans are highly susceptible. The bacterium can enter a host through broken skin, the eyes, throat or lungs. Additionally, the bacterium was turned into a weapon in the past, making the development of vaccines and the identification of therapeutic agents particularly urgent.

The goal of this research is to genetically engineer strains of this bacterium suitable for the design of a new vaccine.
 

Source: 7/11/2005 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter article

Joseph T. Barbieri, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, has been appointed Director of the College's Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) by Michael J. Dunn, MD, Dean and Executive Vice President.  Dr. Barbieri succeeds Dr. David Warltier, who stepped down after being appointed Chairman of Anesthesiology.

Dr. Barbieri has served as Associate Director of the program since 2000.

"The Medical Scientist Training Program is a valuable asset of the College because it helps us to invest in the physician-scientists of the future," said Dr. Dunn.  "Through his successful effort as Associate Director, Dr. Barbieri has proven his understanding of and dedication to training people with this dual degree. He will be effective in expanding upon the success Dr. Warltier had during his tenure."

The MSTP is a comprehensive, seven-year program established in 1983 for students who desire to become physicians and biomedical researchers.  It combines the curricula of the medical school and graduate school and enables trainees to earn both an MD and a PhD.  MSTP graduates continue residency/fellowship training, and many have obtained faculty positions at a variety of medical centers.

"We are fortunate to have leaders at the Medical College of Wisconsin who are truly committed to the success of this program," said Dr. Barbieri.  "It is an honor to have the opportunity to guide the Medical Scientist Training Program."

Dr. Barbieri's research focus is on microbial pathogenesis.

He received his PhD in Microbiology from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and completed a Postdoctoral fellowship in the University of California- Los Angeles in the Microbiology Department.  He joined the Medical College faculty in 1986 as an Assistant Professor.    

Source: 2/21/2005 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter

The Medical College of Wisconsin is the 5th best academic institution for postdoctoral fellows to work in the United States, according to The Scientist's 2005 "Best Places to Work for Postdocs" survey.  It is the third consecutive year the magazine conducted the survey, and the third consecutive time the College was ranked in the top 10.

Academic institutions ranked ahead of the Medical College include, from 1st through 4th place:

• University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill
• Washington University, St. Louis
• Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Mass.
• Michigan State University, East Lansing

The magazine received 3,533 responses from postdoctoral researchers at 769 institutions in the United States, Canada, Western Europe and Israel.  

Respondents rated a valuable training experience, access to research equipment and library services, and a good mentoring relationship as the ingredients that make for a good workplace.

The Medical College of Wisconsin has 159 postdoctoral fellows conducting research in the life sciences.

The Office of Postdoctoral Education was created several years ago to be an advocate and resource for the College's postdoctoral fellows.  The activities of the office are carried out by Philip S. Clifford, PhD, Associate Dean of Postdoctoral Education, and Catie Bauer, Administrative Assistant, in consultation with the Postdoctoral Advisory Committee. 

Full survey results appear in the Feb. 14 issue of The Scientist.

Source: 11/1/2004 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter

Note: Dr. Joseph T. Barbieri, a member of the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, received one of the 21 grants for work on high-throughput crystallization robotics.

The Medical College of Wisconsin has awarded 21 grants through Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin to support education and research initiatives at the College. The five education projects and 16 research projects total $4.8 million.

Advancing a Healthier Wisconsin is the College's five-year plan to develop statewide public and community health collaborative projects and research and education initiatives. The projects and initiatives utilize a portion of the $304 million the College derived from the conversion of Blue Cross and Blue Shield United of Wisconsin to a stock insurance company.

Over the next three to five years, $30 million of the $304 million will be available for immediate expenditure in accordance with the plan. The remaining funds will be part of the Medical College's permanent endowment to assure their use in perpetuity.

The plan allocates 35 percent of the funds to the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program, which is dedicated to community-medical school collaborations. The other 65 percent of the funds are allocated to health improvement through education and research, which these 21 grants fall under.

To view a list of the projects that were funded, the principal investigators of those projects and the amount and length of funding for each project, click here.

Recipients of the first grants provided through the Healthier Wisconsin Partnership Program will be announced in January. 

Source: 6/14/2004 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter

KaloBios, a therapeutic antibody company, has exclusively in-licensed a preclinical antibody drug and its intellectual property portfolio for the clinically relevant pathogen Pseudomonas aeruginosa. A team of researchers at the Medical College of Wisconsin and the University of California, San Francisco, developed the antibody, which cripples the microbes that have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics.

Multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas is one of the most serious and difficult hospital-acquired infections to treat and affects patients with ventilator-associated pneumonia, cystic fibrosis, low white cell counts, burns and diabetic ulcers.

There are approximately 665,000 patients placed on ventilators in the United States each year, and approximately 200,000 develop pneumonia. The additional patient costs associated with pneumonia in the intensive care unit is $40,000 per patient.

"We are delighted that our findings can move to the next step that could lead to a drug aimed at helping thousands of patients," said Dara Frank, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin, Director of the Center for Biopreparedness and Infectious Disease and lead researcher.

The monoclonal antibody has a unique target mechanism. It neutralizes the action of the PcrV protein of the type III secretion system, inhibiting a key disease-causing process of Pseudomonas. Because the target mechanism is different from that of other antibiotics, cross-resistance is not observed.

Independent research from two groups published in the Journal of Infectious Disease in 2001 and Critical Care Medicine in 2002 directly link the expression of the type III secretion system to poor clinical outcome in Pseudomonas lung infections.

KaloBios is using its proprietary antibody technology to engineer a high affinity human antibody against the PcrV protein that is more potent than the original mouse antibody. The company expects to complete the antibody engineering work by mid-2004 and enter a lead compound into IND Track development at that time.

"We are happy that the Medical College and UCSF have both entrusted KaloBios with the development of this potentially valuable drug. It fits perfectly into the profile of KaloBios' pipeline, where our technology can rapidly generate human antibodies from rodent antibodies that have excellent preclinical validation," said Dr. Geoffrey Yarranton, CEO of KaloBios. The antibody will be used as both a prophylactic and as a treatment for Pseudomonas infections in ventilator-associated pneumonia and cystic fibrosis patients.

"We are excited with KaloBios' capability to engineer and move this drug to the clinic as quickly as possible. People need new approaches to treat infections by this formidable and versatile pathogen", said Jeanine Wiener-Kronish MD, professor of anesthesiology at UCSF.

Source: 5/24/2004 Medical College of Wisconsin World Newsletter

Joseph T. Barbieri, PhD, Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, received the Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Teacher.  The recipient of this award is recognized for outstanding teaching of graduate students.