The proposed training program will provide postdoctoral trainees with a rigorous laboratory experience in molecular pathogenesis, emphasizing host-pathogen interactions. Training will be primarily laboratory based, but will also include a required semester course in host-parasite interactions taught by the training faculty. For MD trainees (estimated to be half) a laboratory practicum will precede their assignment to laboratories. Recent faculty recruitment efforts have resulted in the formation of a critical mass of established investigators in the broad area of microbial pathogenesis and accordingly this application proposes to establish an integrated training program for post doctoral trainees in host-pathogen interactions. In addition to their common research interests, many of these faculty already have evidence of collaborative interactions. Faculty research interests encompass areas that include regulation of virulence gene expression, host- pathogen interactions, molecular immunology and immune defense, molecular virology and bioinformatics. The program consists of 12 faculty, all of whom hold NIH grants and who, as a group, have had a substantial training history. As a whole, this group has earned national and international recognition in their respective fields. The training faculty represents a broad range of departmental affiliations, including the Departments of Medicine and Microbiology at Boston University School of Medicine, and the Division of Biomedical Engineering at Boston University. The major goal of the program will be to: 1) recruit and enroll trainees of the highest quality including underrepresented minorities; 2) provide these trainees with a multidisciplinary background in molecular pathogenesis coupled with intensive laboratory training in a focused project that examines a host-parasite interaction(s); 3) to teach trainees to think critically and to ask relevant and feasible research questions; 4) to instill these trainees with a sense of ethical behavior; 5) to help develop effective written and oral communication skills among the trainees; and 6) to facilitate collaborative interactions among both students and faculty of the host-pathogen interaction training Program.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Type
Institutional National Research Service Award (T32)
Project #
5T32AI052070-04
Application #
6920601
Study Section
Microbiology and Infectious Diseases B Subcommittee (MID)
Program Officer
Mcsweegan, Edward
Project Start
2002-07-01
Project End
2007-06-30
Budget Start
2005-07-01
Budget End
2006-06-30
Support Year
4
Fiscal Year
2005
Total Cost
$250,216
Indirect Cost
Name
Boston Medical Center
Department
Type
DUNS #
005492160
City
Boston
State
MA
Country
United States
Zip Code
02118
Han, Eugene S; Mekasha, Samrawit; Ingalls, Robin R (2010) Fibroblast growth factor-inducible 14 (Fn14) is expressed in the lower genital tract and may play a role in amplifying inflammation during infection. J Reprod Immunol 84:16-23
Carpentieri, Andrea; Ratner, Daniel M; Ghosh, Sudip K et al. (2010) The antiretroviral lectin cyanovirin-N targets well-known and novel targets on the surface of Entamoeba histolytica trophozoites. Eukaryot Cell 9:1661-8
Bushkin, G Guy; Ratner, Daniel M; Cui, Jike et al. (2010) Suggestive evidence for Darwinian Selection against asparagine-linked glycans of Plasmodium falciparum and Toxoplasma gondii. Eukaryot Cell 9:228-41
Ratner, Daniel M; Cui, Jike; Steffen, Martin et al. (2008) Changes in the N-glycome, glycoproteins with Asn-linked glycans, of Giardia lamblia with differentiation from trophozoites to cysts. Eukaryot Cell 7:1930-40
Ganley-Leal, Lisa M; Brown, Catherine; Tulman, Edan R et al. (2007) Suppurative polyarthritis in striped skunks (Mephitis mephitis) from Cape Cod, Massachusetts: detection of mycoplasma DNA. J Zoo Wildl Med 38:388-99
Burke, Jennifer M; Ganley-Leal, Lisa M; Khatri, Asma et al. (2007) Neisseria meningitidis PorB, a TLR2 ligand, induces an antigen-specific eosinophil recall response: potential adjuvant for helminth vaccines? J Immunol 179:3222-30
Ram, Sanjay; Ngampasutadol, Jutamas; Cox, Andrew D et al. (2007) Heptose I glycan substitutions on Neisseria gonorrhoeae lipooligosaccharide influence C4b-binding protein binding and serum resistance. Infect Immun 75:4071-81
Catic, Andre; Sun, Zhen-Yu J; Ratner, Daniel M et al. (2007) Sequence and structure evolved separately in a ribosomal ubiquitin variant. EMBO J 26:3474-83
Ratner, Daniel M; Seeberger, Peter H (2007) Carbohydrate microarrays as tools in HIV glycobiology. Curr Pharm Des 13:173-83
Ganley-Leal, Lisa M; Mwinzi, Pauline N; Cetre-Sossah, Catherine B et al. (2006) Correlation between eosinophils and protection against reinfection with Schistosoma mansoni and the effect of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 coinfection in humans. Infect Immun 74:2169-76

Showing the most recent 10 out of 17 publications