 | Richard A. Flavell, Ph.D.
Yale University School of Medicine | | Role of Nucleotide Binding Domain-Leucine Rich Repeat Proteins in Host Defense to Microbial Challenge
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
All multi-cellular organisms live in an environment populated by infectious agents. In order to resist these infections, organisms from the simplest creatures such as flies, all the way up to humans have evolved special detectors of these infections. Upon the detection of these infections, defense... (more) |
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Jeffrey I Gordon, M.D.
Washington University School of Medicine | | A Gnotobiotic Zebrafish Model for Analyzing Symbiotic Host-bacterial Interactions in the Mammalian Gut
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Mutually beneficial (symbiotic) relationships between bacteria and animals are a dominant feature of life on Earth. We are no exception. Our bodies are home to a vast nation of friendly bacteria: the total number exceeds the total number of our own human cells. Our largest collection of microbes... (more) |
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 | Daniel L. Hartl, Ph.D.
Harvard University | | Conditional Targeted Deletions in Plasmodium falciparum
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Malaria is a global infectious disease of devastating proportions. An African child dies of cerebral malaria about every 20 seconds. Basic research has been called upon to find new approaches for prevention and treatment. The evolution of drug-resistant parasites has compromised the effectiveness of many antimalarials currently in use,... (more) |
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 | Roy Curtiss, III, Ph.D.
Washington University | | Providing an Economic Benefit to Using a Vaccine to Enhance Food Safety and to Reduce Antibiotic Use in Agriculture
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Globally, Salmonella enterica serotypes cause a substantial number of human infections with significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the very young, the elderly and the immunocompromised. Numerous studies have implicated prevalent Salmonella transmission to... (more) |
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 | Karla Kirkegaard, Ph.D.
Stanford University School of Medicine | | Systematic Analysis of Positive-strand RNA Viral Transmission Genetics
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
When most viruses infect human cells, they amplify their genetic material so that, in time, each infected cell contains multiple copies. A distinguishing feature of viruses whose genetic material is composed of RNA, not DNA, is the high rate of mutation associated with copying the RNA even once or twice. Therefore, each cell... (more) |
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 | Carl Nathan, M.D.
Weill Medical College of Cornell University | | Genomic Approach to Improved Immunogenicity of M. tuberculosis
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infects about one-third of the people in the world. About 8 million people a year develop tuberculosis as a result and about 2 million a year die from it. The future for this global infectious disease (pandemic) looks even more ominous, for several reasons. First, the Mtb pandemic and the... (more) |
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 | Peter Palese, Ph.D.
Mount Sinai School of Medicine | | Cellular Genes and Viruses: Who Wins The War?
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Viruses can only replicate in live cells, and they rely on the host cell machinery for the amplification of their viral components. Because viral infection is usually detrimental to the host cell, the cell has evolved defense mechanisms which prevent replication of invading viruses. An intricate relationship exists between cellular defenses and viral... (more) |
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 | Charles M. Rice, Ph.D.
Rockefeller University | | Towards Broad-spectrum Antivirals: Functional Screens for Nonessential and Antiviral Host Genes
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Established and emerging viral diseases such as viral hepatitis, dengue fever, West Nile, yellow fever, Venezuelan, Western & Eastern equine encephalitis are major health concerns, particularly in developing countries. Preventative vaccines and effective treatments are not available for many of these... (more) |
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 | Alexander Rich, M.D.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | | Viral Pathogenic Mechanisms Involving Z-DNA Binding Proteins
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
When a virus infects a mammal, a number of different processes occur that determine the success of the viral infection. The host (sometimes a human) immediately mounts an anti-viral response, creating a number of substances that are designed to disarm the virus and prevent it from replicating or producing materials that harm the host.... (more) |
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 | Abigail A. Salyers, Ph.D.
University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign | | Resistance Gene Flow in the Human Colonic Microflora
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
Antibiotics play a critical role in modern medicine. Not only do they cure debilitating and potentially fatal bacterial diseases such as pneumonia, they also make surgery and cancer chemotherapy much less risky than they would be if antibiotics were not available to prevent or cure the overwhelming bacterial infections that can be a side effect... (more) |
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 | Ronald P. Taylor, Ph.D.
University of Virginia |
 | John Waitumbi, D.V.M., Ph.D
| | Investigation of Mechanisms Leading to Anemia at Low Parasite Burden in Children with Malaria
2003 Senior Scholar Award in Global Infectious Disease
One of the most confounding and important problems in understanding malaria concerns the mechanisms by which red blood cells are destroyed. Although it is common knowledge that the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum (Pf), invades red blood cells and causes anemia and severe illness, the... (more) (This research is being conducted by Dr. Taylor in collaboration with Dr. Waitumbe from the Kenyan Medical Research Institute) |
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