Dr Christine Anderson

Ph.D. Marine Biology, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, 2006

Microbial symbionts play important roles in the lives of their animal hosts, from invertebrates to humans. However, little is known about most of these symbiotic interactions at the molecular level. Research in the Visick lab focuses on the symbiosis between the bioluminescent bacterium Vibrio fischeri and the squid Euprymna scolopes, a system amenable to studying the details of symbiosis. One cluster of V. fischeri genes discovered by the Visick lab to play a role in symbiosis is the symbiosis polysaccharide (syp) cluster. The goal of my work is to contribute to understanding how the syp cluster functions in symbiosis. I also plan to look for new V. fischeri genes that are important for symbiosis.

Dr Surendranath Baliji

Ph.D. Cell & Molecular Biology, University of Texas San Antonio, 2006 

My project involves investigating the replication of murine coronavirus, human coronavirus NL-63 and SARS coronavirus that involves bioinformatic analysis in collaboration with Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) and laboratory research using coronavirus reverse genetics system to test the bioinformatic predictions. 

Dr. Britte Beaudette-Zlatanova

Ph.D. Cellular, Molecular, and Organismal Biology,
University of Massachusetts, Boston, 2003

It can take up to two years for patients receiving umbilical cord blood transplants to have a normal, diverse repertoire of circulating T and B cells. During this time, patients are susceptible to opportunistic infections. My project focuses on generating B cell precursors by culturing umbilical cord blood on stromal cells with cytokines that promote the proliferation and differentiation of hematopoietic stem cells into preproB and proB cells. I utilize the NOD/SCID/IL2Rγ -/- mice as in vivo model to test the hypothesis that mixing precursor B and T cells, that have committed to the lymphoid lineage but have not yet expressed BCR or TCR, with UCB transplants will shorten the time it takes to get peripheral T and B cells. This study fits into the overall aim of the Knight lab, which is to understand B cell development.

Dr Rebecca Giorno

Ph.D. Interdepartmental Biological Sciences, Northwestern University

Bacterial spores are encased in protective structures that allow them to survive extremely harsh environments. One of these, called the coat, is present in all species and is very important in resistance to a range of stresses. An additional structure with unknown functions, called the exosporium, is present in a subset of species. In the Driks lab, I study the assembly of the coat and the exosporium in the spore-former Bacillus anthracis. Primarily, I do this by analysis of B. anthracis proteins that have orthologues in Bacillus subtilis and which have been shown to have important roles in spore assembly in that organism. My results show that coat and exosporium assembly in B. anthracis is guided by a core of well-conserved proteins. Interactions between these proteins appear to dictate coat and exosporium architecture. We speculate that variation in coat and exosporium structure among Bacillus species is due, to a significant degree, to differences in these core proteins.

Dr Snawar Hussain

Ph.D. Biochemistry & Molecular Biology, 
College of Life Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, China.

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS-CoV) is a recently emerged human coronavirus, which is distinct from other coronaviruses in both pathogenicity and genome complexity. The SARS - CoV encodes a number of novel "accessory" proteins. My current work focus on the role of SARS-CoV accessory proteins in viral pathogenesis in the context of a heterologous mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) system. Functional characterization of these accessory proteins will ultimately lead to better understanding of pathogenesis and epidemiology of SARS and other related Coronaviruses.

Dr Sylvia Reimann

Ph.D., Molecular Biology, Dept. of Urology, 
University of Cologne, Germany, 2003

Small molecules can be dangerous, even deadly. The Wolfe lab studies such a molecule: Acetyl phosphate (ac~P). It can influence the transcription of about 100 different genes by donating phosphoryl groups to 2-component-signaling pathways (2CS). These pathways regulate many vital things in the cell: capsule formation, motility, virulence or metabolism. When certain 2CS are non-functioning or missing, cells with high ac~P levels show a lethal phenotype, suggesting that those pathways are required for cell survival when ac~P levels are high. By studying these synthetic lethals I try to answer questions that could give us a better insight into many bacterial properties such as motility, biofilm formation, production of virulence factors, or resistance to antibiotics.

Dr Yoichi Seki

Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, Japan, 2004

T cells play a central role in the promotion of the effector and regulatory functions in the immunological system, and failures of these functions are cause of various immunological disease. My research goal is clarifying the details of molecular mechanisms of the development and differentiation processes into effector T cell (such as Th1, Th2 and Th17), memory T cells and regulatory T cells. The accumulation of these knowledge will provide us novel point of view to develop the therapeutic strategy for various immune disorders.

Dr Katrina Sleeman

Ph.D., Virology, Institute for Animal Health, 
University of Warwick, UK, 2004

The replicase polyprotein of severe acute respiratory syndrome virus (SARS-CoV) is proteolytically processed by two viral protesases, PLpro and 3CLpro. Since this proteolytic processing is essential for generating a functional replication complex, the SARS-CoV proteases are ideal targets for the development of antiviral drugs. My research here in the Baker Lab focuses on evaluating novel protease inhibitors for the ability to block virus replication and determining if drug resistant mutants arise in the presence of protease inhibitors. Drug resistant viruses will be sequenced and sites of resistance characterized, which will provide important information for developing the next generation of protease inhibitors.

Dr Mutsumi Yamamoto

Ph.D., Biological Sciences, Tokyo University of Science, Japan, 2006

My research goal is to identify the molecular mechanism by which the immune system maintains its memory. In particular, I am interested in how antigen activation of naïve T cells convert naïve cells to be memory T cells, which live longer and respond more effectively to the antigen than naïve T cells. Currently, studies on memory T cells rely mostly on the cell surface antigen expression that change as the time passes from initial activation. I will use a genetic system that marks T cells that are activated by antigens and follow their fate, localization, surface antigen expression, and gene expressions. This study will provide critical information to understand how immune memory is maintained and will help developing more effective and long lasting vaccines.