editors: teresa dilorenzo, arturo casadevall · minews the e‐newsletter of einstein’s mi...

MInews The E‐newsletter of Einstein’s MI Department Spring 2009 Editors: Teresa DiLorenzo, Arturo Casadevall

A Message from the Editors This issue of MInews marks the one‐year anniversary of the e‐newsletter of the MI Department. We hope you agree that MInews has both increased communication within the Department and helped to foster a sense of community. We thank all of you who took the time to share your news. Please continue to send comments and suggestions to [email protected]. Enjoy!

Departmental News from the Chair The MI Recruitment Committee Completes its Work The MI recruitment committee (Steve Porcelli, Chair, Teresa DiLorenzo, Harris Goldstein, Bill Jacobs, Stan Nathenson, Vinayaka Prasad, Matty Scharff, Liise‐anne Pirofski, Chaim Putterman, and Arturo Casadevall) has completed its work, which began in 2006. I would like to share with you some numbers. Number of applications reviewed: 120 Number of people interviewed: 20 Number of people brought back for a second visit: 11 Number of offers made: 10 Number of offers accepted: 6 (Kartik Chandran, Felipe Diaz‐Griffero, Claudia Gravekamp, Gregoire Lauvau, Deborah Palliser, Xingxing Zang) In addition, the committee also played a helpful role with the transfer of Tom Leyh from Biochemistry to MI. Recent faculty recruits having secondary appointments in MI are Vyacheslav (Slava) Adarichev, Johanna Daily, and Betsy Herold. Johanna was recruited to ID by Liise‐anne Pirofski and Slava to Rheumatology by Chaim Putterman. Harris Goldstein was instrumental in the recruitment of Betsy to Pediatrics. I think we were very successful in recruiting top people. At the completion of this process, I have some thoughts.

• Of the 4 people that did not accept, ALL turned us down for personal reasons.

MInews‐‐Spring 2009 2

• The recruitment committee was remarkable in having representation from four departments (MI, Medicine, Pediatrics, and Cell Biology). This was extremely helpful in projecting to the applicants that Einstein has an integrated faculty. It also allowed wide input that helped select the best applicants. We compared favorably to competing institutions since it was clear that there was no 'silo mentality' here.

• Of the 6 recruits, 3 do research that is primarily within the realm of 'immunology' and 3 are primarily 'microbiologists.' I use these labels with caution since many work with both microbe and host, but their research emphasis helps maintain balance in the department. We have strengthened our portfolio in virology, bacterial pathogenesis, and cellular immunology.

• Recruitments to MI took into account the needs of centers, in particular the Cancer Center, the Diabetes Center, and the Center for AIDS Research (CFAR). The recruitment of Drs. Zang and Gravekamp helped the needs of the Cancer Center, while Drs. Palliser, Chandran, and Diaz‐Griffero add to the faculty resources of CFAR. Dr. Zang also contributes to the faculty of the Diabetes Center. In turn, having such centers helped us in recruitment since they were viewed as a real asset of our institution.

As this process comes to an end, special thanks are in order:

• Kudos to Steve Porcelli who chaired the committee. Steve screened every application and showed great leadership in making decisions and forging the committee into an effective recruiting tool. Steve did his homework and was there through the entire process, including helping during the critical negotiation steps. Steve showed great insight and I give him the lion's share of the credit for the success of this entire process.

• Thanks to each of the committee members who gave of their time and brought great expertise and experience to the process. I note that many committee members devoted at least 31 days to interviews, chalk talks, dinners, etc. This is a tremendous effort by any measure.

• Thanks to Deans Spiegel and Burns without whose support none of this would have happened. The Dean's office was very responsive and supportive through the entire process. This was enormously helpful since applicants got the sense our institution was special. For example, we were able to get letters out quickly and to respond to their requests within days. That made us look very good relative to other institutions.

• Thanks to Gina DeFilippi who managed the logistics of the entire process. She received all applications, acknowledged them, arranged for interviews, and generally made sure that the interview process, visits, etc. worked smoothly. Gina's efforts gave our recruitment drive a sense of professionalism that helped us look good.

• Thanks to Susan Nuccio and the MI office for answering the numerous questions from applicants. Their responsiveness helped reassure candidates and provided key information critical to successful recruiting efforts.

• Thanks to CFAR and the Cancer Center, and specifically to their PIs Harris Goldstein and David Goldman, for their efforts. The center framework at Einstein was a major asset in attracting top people.


• Thanks to the many faculty who helped MI w these tasks. The following people helped with the interview process: Drs. Adarichev, Almo, Baker, Brojatsch, Burns, Chan, Chandran, Dragic, Edelman, Feldmesser, Goldman, Kalpana, Kielian, Kim, Lai, Lenz, Macaluso, Macian, Massini, Sellers, Skoultchi, Snapp, Spiegel, R. Stanley, Steidl, Vijg, Weiss, Wilson, and Zang.

On May 22, 2009, MI will hold an all‐day symposium to celebrate the completion of our recruitment work and to showcase the primary and secondary faculty who have been recruited to the Department over the past two to three years. The symposium will be held in the Robbins Auditorium and will feature short talks by new faculty members Drs. Slava Adarichev, Kartik Chandran, Johanna Daily, Felipe Diaz‐Griffero, Claudia Gravekamp, Betsy Herold, Gregoire Lauvau, Thomas Leyh, Deborah Palliser, and Xingxing Zang. Please join us as we officially welcome our new faculty and celebrate this unprecedented expansion of our Department.

Forchheimer Renovations A plan was finalized for renovations whereby the center section would be modernized in three phases. We are still currently waiting for a date for the work to begin. 2008 NIH Award Data: MI Ranks Second in NYC The Blue Ridge Institute for Medical Research has compiled 2008 NIH award data for basic and clinical science departments at US medical schools. In terms of NIH award dollars (direct plus indirect costs), Einstein’s MI Department ranked second in New York City and eighteenth in the nation among medical school Microbiology departments. You can review the ranking tables at http://www.brimr.org/NIH_Awards/NIH_Awards.htm

ASM Student Chapter at Einstein Presents: The Science of Wine Magdia De Jesus (Casadevall lab) has submitted the following update on the American Society for Microbiology (ASM) student chapter at Einstein: With great pleasure the ASM student chapter at Einstein will be hosting its second student invited speaker on Thursday, March 26, 2009. We have invited wine microbiologist Dr. Ramón Mira de Orduña, Associate Professor of Enology from Cornell University Department of Food Science & Technology. He will be giving a lecture entitled “Wine microbiology or the art of spoiling grapes” in the Forchheimer third floor lecture hall at 4:00 p.m. After the lecture we will have a wine and cheese student and faculty mixer. We will be sending and posting announcements with all the details. We are currently planning his itinerary and need faculty to meet with him throughout the day. As part of Dr. Mira de Orduña’s visit we will have a student lunch at 12:00 noon and would like for students in the department to meet with him as well. If you are interested in meeting with him please contact Magdia De Jesus at [email protected] or Teraya Donaldson at [email protected]. For more information on Dr. Mira de Orduña, see the following link: http://www.nysaes.cornell.edu/fst/faculty/orduna/


MI Postdocs Shine at Belfer Ceremony At a ceremony held in December 2008, six Einstein postdocs were awarded a Prize for Outstanding Postdoctoral Research from the Belfer Institute for Advanced Biomedical Studies. Two of the six winners were from MI: Eszter Lazar‐Molnar (Nathenson lab) and Arunika Mukhopadhaya (DiLorenzo lab). Two of the ten Travel Awards also went to postdocs from MI labs: Manjunatha Venkataswamy (Porcelli lab) and Neena Jain (Fries lab). Congratulations to all! Read the full story at http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/fullstory.asp?id=269

South African Research Institute for Tuberculosis and HIV The Howard Hughes Medical Institute has committed $50M over the next 10 years to support the development of a research institute in South Africa to combat the tuberculosis and HIV epidemics in the region. Dr. Bill Jacobs will be heavily involved with the new institute, to be located in Durban. One of its goals will be to develop improved diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines for tuberculosis and HIV. Read about Bill’s vision for the institute at http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/news.asp?id=321

News from the MI Office Jackelyn Kronengold, HHMI administrative assistant for Bill Jacobs, recently left Einstein to take a position at HHMI at Yale University, just 20 minutes from her home in Connecticut. Jackie has been replaced by Linda Long, an experienced HHMI administrative assistant from Columbia University. Below is a photo of the MI office as they welcomed Linda and bid farewell to Jackie.

Pictured from left to right are Linda LoParrino, Susan Nuccio, Laura Vallone, Maria Gasparino, Jackie Kronengold (front), Gina DeFilippi, Maria Ortiz, Georgia Veroutis, Loretta Garin, Louisa Gonzalez, and Linda Long.


News from the Students 1. Gao, Hua‐Xin (Putterman Lab) Gao, H. X., S. R. Campbell, L. C. Burkly, A. Jakubowski, I. Jarchum, B. Banas, M. A. Saleem, P. W.

Mathieson, J. W. Berman, J. S. Michaelson, and C. Putterman. 2009. TNF‐like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) induces inflammatory and proliferative effects in human kidney cells. Cytokine (in press).

Gao, H. X., S. R. Campbell, M. H. Cui, P. Zong, J. Hee‐Hwang, M. Gulinello, and C. Putterman. 2009. Depression is an early disease manifestation in lupus‐prone MRL/lpr mice. J Neuroimmunol 207:45‐56.

2. Jarchum, Irene (DiLorenzo Lab) Antal, Z., I. Jarchum, and T. P. DiLorenzo. 2008. HLA class I supertypes in type 1 diabetic

children in an urban children's hospital. Ann N Y Acad Sci 1150:86‐89. Gao, H. X., S. R. Campbell, L. C. Burkly, A. Jakubowski, I. Jarchum, B. Banas, M. A. Saleem, P. W.

Mathieson, J. W. Berman, J. S. Michaelson, and C. Putterman. 2009. TNF‐like weak inducer of apoptosis (TWEAK) induces inflammatory and proliferative effects in human kidney cells. Cytokine (in press).

Irene is a recipient of a 2009 Julius Marmur award. Irene has accepted a postdoctoral position at Memorial Sloan‐Kettering Cancer Center in the laboratory of Eric Pamer, M.D., Chief, Infectious Disease Service. 3. Madrid, Dennis (Kim Lab) Madrid, D. C., L. M. Ting, K. L. Waller, V. L. Schramm, and K. Kim. 2008. Plasmodium falciparum

purine nucleoside phosphorylase is critical for viability of malaria parasites. J Biol Chem 283:35899‐35907.

4. Mwakingwe, Agnes (Kim Lab) Agnes won the 2008 Young Investigator Award at the annual meeting of the American Society for Tropical Medicine and Hygiene for her presentation entitled "Real‐time in vivo imaging of liver stages of Plasmodium yoelii: GFP/luciferase reporter parasites." She also won a travel award to attend the meeting. See http://mstp.aecom.yu.edu/ for a picture of Agnes presenting her work.


5. Ramalingam, Dhivya (Prasad Lab) Dhivya presented a poster at the Antiviral Drug Resistance conference held in Richmond, VA in November 2008. 6. Sango, Kaori (Goldstein Lab) Joseph, A., K. Sango, and H. Goldstein. 2009. Novel mouse models for understanding HIV‐1

pathogenesis. Methods Mol Biol 485:311‐327.

News from the Postdocs 1. Arora, Pooja (Porcelli Lab) Pooja received a travel scholarship of 100,000 JPY to present her work at the 5th International Symposium on CD1/NKT Cells, held in March 2009 in Kamakura, Japan, and organized by the RIKEN Research Center for Allergy and Immunology. 2. Chattopadhyay, Kausik (Nathenson Lab) Chattopadhyay, K., U. A. Ramagopal, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. 1.8 angstrom

structure of murine GITR ligand dimer expressed in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr (in press).

Chattopadhyay, K., E. Lazar‐Molnar, Q. Yan, R. Rubinstein, C. Zhan, V. Vigdorovich, U. A. Ramagopal, J. Bonanno, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. Sequence, structure, function, immunity: structural genomics of costimulation. Immunol Rev (in press).

3. Gissot, Mathieu (Kim Lab) Gissot, M., and K. Kim. 2008. How epigenomics contributes to the understanding of gene

regulation in Toxoplasma gondii. J Eukaryot Microbiol 55:476‐480. Gissot, M., K. Kim, D. Schaap, and J. W. Ajioka. 2009. New eukaryotic systematics: a

phylogenetic perspective of developmental gene expression in the Apicomplexa. Int J Parasitol 39:145‐151.

Mathieu is now a faculty member at Institut Pasteur, Lille, France.


4. Joseph, Aviva (Goldstein Lab) Joseph, A., K. Sango, and H. Goldstein. 2009. Novel mouse models for understanding HIV‐1

pathogenesis. Methods Mol Biol 485:311‐327. Aviva received a scholarship to attend the Prevention of HIV/AIDS Keystone symposium, held in Colorado in March 2009, where she presented a poster entitled, “Gene therapy using a lentivector expressing the anti‐HIV‐1 2G12 broadly neutralizing antibody protects humamized mice from in vivo HIV‐1 challenge.” Aviva was elected co‐chair of the postdoc senators of the Einstein senate. 5. Lazar‐Molnar, Eszter (Nathenson Lab) Chattopadhyay, K., E. Lazar‐Molnar, Q. Yan, R. Rubinstein, C. Zhan, V. Vigdorovich, U. A.

Ramagopal, J. Bonanno, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. Sequence, structure, function, immunity: structural genomics of costimulation. Immunol Rev (in press).

6. Vigdorovich, Vladimir (Nathenson Lab) Chattopadhyay, K., E. Lazar‐Molnar, Q. Yan, R. Rubinstein, C. Zhan, V. Vigdorovich, U. A.

Ramagopal, J. Bonanno, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. Sequence, structure, function, immunity: structural genomics of costimulation. Immunol Rev (in press).

News from the Associates

1. Ting, Li‐Min (Kim Lab) Madrid, D. C., L. M. Ting, K. L. Waller, V. L. Schramm, and K. Kim. 2008. Plasmodium falciparum

purine nucleoside phosphorylase is critical for viability of malaria parasites. J Biol Chem 283:35899‐35907.

News from the Technicians 1. Adjei‐Afasu, Denise (Gravekamp Lab) Sparvero, L. J., D. Asafu‐Adjei, R. Kang, D. Tang, N. Amin, J. Im, R. Rutledge, B. Lin, A. A.

Amoscato, H. J. Zeh, and M. T. Lotze. 2009. RAGE (Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts), RAGE ligands, and their role in cancer and inflammation. J Transl Med 7:17.


News from the Instructors 1. Bryan, Ruth (Dadachova Lab) Bryan, R. A., Z. Jiang, X. Huang, A. Morgenstern, F. Bruchertseifer, R. Sellers, A. Casadevall, and

E. Dadachova. 2009. Radioimmunotherapy is effective against high‐inoculum Cryptococcus neoformans infection in mice and does not select for radiation‐resistant cryptococcal cells. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 53:1679‐1682.

Ruth will present a poster entitled "Radioimmunotherapy is a more effective treatment than amphotericin in experimental systemic infection with melanized and non‐melanized Cryptococcus neoformans" at the Annual ASM meeting in May in Philadelphia, PA. 2. Hassani, Morad (Jacobs Lab) Morad presented a poster at the Keystone Symposium on "Tuberculosis: Biology, Pathology and Therapy" (January 2009; Keystone, Colorado). The title of his poster was "A ΔhupB mutant of Mycobacterium tuberculosis is attenuated and has reactivation defects in mice.”

News from the Faculty

1. Casadevall, Arturo Dam, T. K., M. Torres, C. F. Brewer, and A. Casadevall. 2008. Isothermal titration calorimetry

reveals differential binding thermodynamics of variable region‐identical antibodies differing in constant region for a univalent ligand. J Biol Chem 283:31366‐31370.

Dadachova, E., and A. Casadevall. 2008. Ionizing radiation: how fungi cope, adapt, and exploit with the help of melanin. Curr Opin Microbiol 11:525‐531.

De Jesus, M., A. M. Nicola, M. L. Rodrigues, G. Janbon, and A. Casadevall. 2009. Capsular localization of the Cryptococcus neoformans polysaccharide component galactoxylomannan. Eukaryot Cell 8:96‐103.

Bliska, J. B., and A. Casadevall. 2009. Intracellular pathogenic bacteria and fungi‐‐a case of convergent evolution? Nat Rev Microbiol 7:165‐171.

Frases, S., B. Pontes, L. Nimrichter, N. B. Viana, M. L. Rodrigues, and A. Casadevall. 2009. Capsule of Cryptococcus neoformans grows by enlargement of polysaccharide molecules. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 106:1228‐1233.

Fang, F. C., and A. Casadevall. 2009. NIH peer review reform‐‐change we need, or lipstick on a pig? Infect Immun 77:929‐932.

Nosanchuk, J. D., L. Nimrichter, A. Casadevall, and M. L. Rodrigues. 2008. A role for vesicular transport of macromolecules across cell walls in fungal pathogenesis. Commun Integr Biol 1:37‐39.

Dadachova, E., and A. Casadevall. 2009. Radioimmunotherapy of infectious diseases. Semin


Nucl Med 39:146‐153. Pirofski, L. A., and A. Casadevall. 2009. Rethinking T cell immunity in oropharyngeal candidiasis.

J Exp Med 206:269‐273. Panepinto, J., K. Komperda, S. Frases, Y. D. Park, J. T. Djordjevic, A. Casadevall, and P. R.

Williamson. 2009. Sec6‐dependent sorting of fungal extracellular exosomes and laccase of Cryptococcus neoformans. Mol Microbiol 71:1165‐1176.

Casadevall, A., and F. C. Fang. 2009. Is peer review censorship? Infect Immun 77:1273‐1274. Bryan, R. A., Z. Jiang, X. Huang, A. Morgenstern, F. Bruchertseifer, R. Sellers, A. Casadevall, and


Alvarez, M., T. Burns, Y. Luo, L. A. Pirofski, and A. Casadevall. 2009. The outcome of Cryptococcus neoformans intracellular pathogenesis in human monocytes. BMC Microbiol 9:51.

Roberts, E., and A. Casadevall. 2009. Antibody‐mediated immobilization of Cryptococcus neoformans promotes biofilm formation. Appl Environ Microbiol (in press).

Zaragoza, O., M. L. Rodrigues, M. De Jesus, S. Frases, E. Dadachova, and A. Casadevall. 2009. The capsule of fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans. Adv Appl Microbiol (in press).

Fonseca, F. L., S. Frases, A. Casadevall, O. Fischman‐Gompertz, L. Nimrichter, and M. L. Rodrigues. 2009. Structural and functional properties of the Trichosporon asahii glucuronoxylomannan. Fungal Genet Biol (in press).

da Silva, M. B., A. F. Marques, A. E. Svidzinski, J. D. Nosanchuk, A. Casadevall, L. R. Travassos, and C. P. Taborda. 2009. Resistance of melanized yeast cells of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis to antimicrobial oxidants and inhibition of phagocytosis using carbohydrates and monoclonal antibody to CD18. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (in press).

Pericolini, E., E. Gabrielli, E. Cenci, M. De Jesus, F. Bistoni, A. Casadevall, and A. Vecchiarelli. 2009. Involvement of glyco‐receptors in galactoxylomannan‐induced T cell death. J Immunol (in press).

2. Chandran, Kartik Kartik was awarded an R21 grant from NIAID to investigate how a new class of small molecule inhibitors blocks Ebolavirus entry. 3. Dadachova, Ekaterina Bryan, R. A., Z. Jiang, X. Huang, A. Morgenstern, F. Bruchertseifer, R. Sellers, A. Casadevall, and



Kate received a $50,000 pilot award from CFAR/Cancer Center for a project entitled "Treatment of HPV associated head and neck cancer with novel RIT targeting viral antigens." She was also nominated by Einstein to submit a grant to the Dana Foundation to support her work on radioimmunotherapy of brain metastases from metastatic melanoma. Invited speaker: Kate delivered a Topical Lecture at the Annual AAAS meeting in Chicago in February 2009 entitled "Novel approaches to the therapy of infectious diseases." Read about this lecture at http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/news.asp?id=301 Invited speaker: "Unusual interaction of melanin pigment in fungal cells with ionizing radiation," Brooklyn College, CUNY, March 2009. In February 2009, TV Channel 1 in Russia showed a 1.5 hr documentary entitled "The Mold" during prime time. This documentary is about the interaction between fungi and humankind throughout history. It includes interviews with Kate and with Arturo Casadevall. The English‐language version of the movie will be shown at the upcoming Cannes Film Festival on May 13‐24, 2009 and is available from Kate. Rebecca Phaeton, a Gynecology Medical Research Fellow in the Dadachova lab, will present a specially highlighted poster entitled "Biodistribution of 188‐Rhenium labeled antibody to E6 viral protein in experimental cervical tumors: A potential highly selective tumor‐specific treatment for HPV‐related cervical cancer" at the upcoming AACR meeting in April in Denver, CO. 4. DiLorenzo, Teresa Serreze, D. V., M. Niens, J. Kulik, and T. P. DiLorenzo. 2009. Bridging mice to men: using HLA

transgenic mice to enhance the future prediction and prevention of autoimmune type 1 diabetes in humans. In Mouse Models for Drug Discovery. M. Wiles, and G. Proetzel, eds. Humana Press, Totowa, NJ.

Invited speaker: “T cell tolerance by DEC‐205‐mediated antigen delivery to dendritic cells in type 1 diabetes,” Joslin Diabetes Center, Boston, MA, March 2009. Teresa served on two NIH Special Emphasis Panels that reviewed “member conflict” applications for the Hypersensitivity, Autoimmune, and Immune‐mediated Diseases (HAI) study section. She is also a member of the panel that reviews F30 (predoctoral) and F32 (postdoctoral) fellowship applications for NIDDK. Ari Geliebter, an Einstein medical student, was awarded a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Research Training Fellowship to conduct research under Teresa’s mentorship for one year beginning in August 2009.


5. Goldstein, Harris Joseph, A., K. Sango, and H. Goldstein. 2009. Novel mouse models for understanding HIV‐1

pathogenesis. Methods Mol Biol 485:311‐327. 6. Gravekamp, Claudia Gravekamp, C., B. Leal, A. Denny, R. Bahar, S. Lampkin, F. Castro, S. H. Kim, D. Moore, and R.

Reddick. 2008. In vivo responses to vaccination with Mage‐b, GM‐CSF and thioglycollate in a highly metastatic mouse breast tumor model, 4T1. Cancer Immunol Immunother 57:1067‐1077.

Kim, S. H., F. Castro, D. Gonzalez, P. C. Maciag, Y. Paterson, and C. Gravekamp. 2008. Mage‐b vaccine delivered by recombinant Listeria monocytogenes is highly effective against breast cancer metastases. Br J Cancer 99:741‐749.

Gravekamp, C., S. H. Kim, and F. Castro. 2009. Cancer vaccination: manipulation of immune responses at old age. Mech Ageing Dev 130:67‐75.

Gravekamp, C. 2009. The importance of the age factor in cancer vaccination at older age. Cancer Immunol Immunother (in press).

Oral presentation: Are cancer vaccines effective at an older age? Gordon Research Conference. Mechanisms of Aging: Key effectors and rational targets. Ventura, CA. February 2009. 7. Kim, Kami Dybas, J. M., C. J. Madrid‐Aliste, F. Y. Che, E. Nieves, D. Rykunov, R. H. Angeletti, L. M. Weiss, K.

Kim, and A. Fiser. 2008. Computational analysis and experimental validation of gene predictions in Toxoplasma gondii. PLoS ONE 3:e3899.

Wanyiri, J. W., P. Techasintana, R. M. O'Connor, M. J. Blackman, K. Kim, and H. D. Ward. 2009. Role of CpSUB1, a subtilisin‐like protease in Cryptosporidium parvum infection in vitro. Eukaryot Cell (in press).

Gissot, M., and K. Kim. 2008. How epigenomics contributes to the understanding of gene regulation in Toxoplasma gondii. J Eukaryot Microbiol 55:476‐480.

Gissot, M., K. Kim, D. Schaap, and J. W. Ajioka. 2009. New eukaryotic systematics: a phylogenetic perspective of developmental gene expression in the Apicomplexa. Int J Parasitol 39:145‐151.

Madrid, D. C., L. M. Ting, K. L. Waller, V. L. Schramm, and K. Kim. 2008. Plasmodium falciparum purine nucleoside phosphorylase is critical for viability of malaria parasites. J Biol Chem 283:35899‐35907.

As of April 2009, Kami will be co‐section editor of Parasitology for PLoS Pathogens.


8. Nathenson, Stan Chattopadhyay, K., U. A. Ramagopal, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. 1.8 angstrom

structure of murine GITR ligand dimer expressed in Drosophila melanogaster S2 cells. Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr (in press).

Chattopadhyay, K., E. Lazar‐Molnar, Q. Yan, R. Rubinstein, C. Zhan, V. Vigdorovich, U. A. Ramagopal, J. Bonanno, S. G. Nathenson, and S. C. Almo. 2009. Sequence, structure, function, immunity: structural genomics of costimulation. Immunol Rev (in press).

9. Nosanchuk, Josh Guimaraes, A. J., S. Frases, F. J. Gomez, R. M. Zancope‐Oliveira, and J. D. Nosanchuk. 2009.

Monoclonal antibodies to heat shock protein 60 alter the pathogenesis of Histoplasma capsulatum. Infect Immun 77:1357‐1367.

Sandkovsky, U., M. R. Mihu, A. Adeyeye, P. M. De Forest, and J. D. Nosanchuk. 2009. Iatrogenic meningitis in an obstetric patient after combined spinal‐epidural analgesia: case report and review of the literature. South Med J 102:287‐290.

da Silva, M. B., A. F. Marques, A. E. Svidzinski, J. D. Nosanchuk, A. Casadevall, L. R. Travassos, and C. P. Taborda. 2009. Resistance of melanized yeast cells of Paracoccidioides brasiliensis to antimicrobial oxidants and inhibition of phagocytosis using carbohydrates and monoclonal antibody to CD18. Memorias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz (in press).

Almeida‐Paes, R., S. Frases‐Carvajal, P. C. F. Monteiro, M. C. Gutierrez‐Galhardo, R. M. Zancope‐Oliveira, and J. D. Nosanchuk. 2009. Growth conditions influence melanization of Brazilian Sporothrix schenckii isolates. Microbes Infect (in press).

Martinez, L. R., G. Han, M. Chacko, M. R. Mihu, M. Jacobson, P. Gialanella, A. J. Friedman, J. D. Nosanchuk, and J. M. Friedman. 2009. Antimicrobial and healing efficacy of sustained release nitric oxide nanoparticles against Staphylococcus aureus skin infection. J Invest Dermatol (in press).

Josh received a Hirschl/Weill‐Caulier Career Scientist Award for the study of Candida parapsilosis hydrolytic enzymes. Josh was elected to the status of Fellow in the American College of Physicians. Read more about the significance of this honor here: http://www.aecom.yu.edu/medicine/news.aspx?id=17410 10. Palliser, Debbie Wu, Y., F. Navarro, A. Lal, E. Basar, R. K. Pandey, M. Manoharan, Y. Feng, S. J. Lee, J. Lieberman,

and D. Palliser. 2009. Durable protection from Herpes Simplex Virus‐2 transmission


following intravaginal application of siRNAs targeting both a viral and host gene. Cell Host Microbe 5:84‐94.

This paper was discussed by Reuters, Forbes, Comcast.net News, Science Daily, The Dallas Morning News, and Agence France Presse. Find links to the press coverage at http://www.aecom.yu.edu/home/addCoverage.asp?id=52 11. Prasad, Vinayaka

The New York State AIDS Advisory Council urges the creation of a New York State HIV/AIDS Research Initiative modeled on a successful California HIV/AIDS Research Program (CHRP). With the second highest AIDS case rate in the country and abundant AIDS expertise, such a program can position New York State to attract more NIH funds for AIDS research relevant to the state. A group of eminent AIDS researchers in New York State have come together to try to convince the state legislators to include in the NYS budget, $1M for the first year as start‐up and $5M for the subsequent 2‐3 years for AIDS research. The money will be used to give out pilot and feasibility grants to individuals as well as other types of grants to promote AIDS research by in‐state investigators to help them attract larger NIH grants. In a meeting held in December 2008 at the Center for Drug Use and HIV Research (National Development and Research Institutes) in New York entitled “Setting an HIV/AIDS Agenda for New York State,” NYS AIDS experts gathered to discuss priority areas for funding in four areas: Basic Research; Social, Behavioral and Prevention Research; Clinical Research; and Health Policy Research. Prasad chaired the Basic Research group and helped develop initiatives to be recommended to the State by the NYS AIDS Council. Prasad has been named to the Editorial Board of Journal of Global Infectious Diseases. He is currently on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Virology, Retrovirology, AIDS Therapy & Research, and RNA Biology. Prasad and Ganjam Kalpana edited a book, HIV Protocols, 2nd edition, that was published by Springer in early 2009. The book includes chapters by a large number of well known HIV researchers worldwide. The contributors include MI faculty members such as Prasad, Kalpana, Harris Goldstein, and Joan Berman. The book is available in the Library and it is also accessible electronically at the Library site with the following link: http://www.springerprotocols.com/BookToc/doi/10.1007/978-1-59745-170-3 Prasad chaired an NIH Study Section to review applications submitted to the “Integrated Preclinical and Clinical Program” in November 2008 and was a member on two recent NIH Study Sections – one was to review Center for AIDS Research applications (November 2008) and the other was the AIDS Molecular and Cellular Biology (AMCB) study section (March 2009) on which he served as an ad hoc member.


12. Steinberg, Bettie In December 2008, Bettie received a 5‐year R01 grant from the NIH (1R01DC008579‐01) entitled, “Human Papillomavirus Infection and Expression of COX‐2.” Her abstract entitled "COX‐2 and PGE‐2 ‐ Targets in Recurrent Respiratory Papillomas" was accepted for oral presentation at the International Papillomavirus Workshop to be held in Malmo, Sweden in May 2009. 13. Zang, Xingxing Invited speaker: "T cell regulation: From costimulation to coinhibition," University of Edinburgh, UK, December 2008.

editors: teresa dilorenzo, arturo casadevall · minews the e‐newsletter of einstein’s mi...

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