The United States and other nations face a growing crisis related to suffering and death from a variety of infections. These include: ongoing pandemics of tuberculosis, AIDS and malaria; emerging and re-emerging infectious agents such as influenza and food-borne illnesses; multidrug-resistant pathogens, recently highlighted by the case of XDR tuberculosis; community-associated staph infections; and infections in immunocompromised individuals such as those with cancer, transplants or illnesses requiring time in hospital critical care units.
Investigators in Ohio State’s Center for Microbial Interface Biology (CMIB) are leading the way to new diagnostic strategies, therapies and vaccines against a number of these invisible killers. Internationally recognized scientists are performing innovative bench and translational science designed to improve the health of the nation. A focus on broad-based interdisciplinary scientific platforms is enhancing the effectiveness and efficiency of discoveries. This is exemplified by a significant growth in funded programs, publications and international visibility related to the Center’s activities. The CMIB also is partnering with several Ohio State colleges, centers and institutes as well as the Medical Center’s Signature Programs.
Program highlights of 2006:
- The CMIB was awarded University “Center” status by the Ohio State Board of Trustees in December 2006. The CMIB has seven core faculty members. Five of them, along with their lab personnel and the Center’s administrative leadership, have moved to the 10th floor of the Biomedical Research Tower. Membership has grown to 58 faculty, representing units across the Columbus and Wooster campuses and Columbus Children’s Research Institute. Grant support for core faculty members in 2006 totaled $11.16 million.
- A campus-wide Biosafety Level 3 (BSL 3) core facilities program was established under the governance of the CMIB. All Ohio State investigators and off-campus partners have access to these state-of-the-art facilities. This is one of the most developed university biocontainment programs in the country.
- Ohio State became a member of the National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded Great Lakes Regional Centers of Excellence in Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases Research Program. CMIB faculty members have been awarded a program grant and a development project totaling $1.15 million.
- The CMIB is part of a team of investigators from six colleges (Medicine, Veterinary Medicine, Biological Sciences, Pharmacy, Public Health, and Food, Agricultural and Environmental Sciences) that received a Provost Targeted Investment in Excellence program totaling $4.79 million and entitled “Public Health Preparedness for Infectious Diseases.”
- Two faculty members were recruited in a creative partnership with the Department of Microbiology in the College of Biological Sciences: Chad Rappleye, PhD, from Washington University (fungal pathogenesis), and Stephanie Seveau, PhD, from the University of Michigan (Listeria pathogenesis).
- The CMIB “Host-Pathogen Seminar Series” brought six internationally recognized experts in microbe-host interactions to campus during 2006.
2006 grant highlights include:
- Lung innate immune responses to Francisella tularensis: a central role for the macrophage (National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Region V Great Lakes Regional Center of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease Research) - Larry Schlesinger, MD, PI. This project studies the lung innate immune response to Francisella tularensis, the causative bacterium of tularemia and a targeted agent of bioterrorism. This $1.05 million program project grant includes investigators in both the CMIB and the Davis Heart and Lung Research Institute.
- Salmonella antimicrobial peptide resistance (National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases) - John Gunn, PhD, PI. This study, funded at $1.16 million, focuses on the PmrA-PmrB regulon, including the identification and characterization of PmrAPmrB- regulated genes necessary for antimicrobial peptide resistance and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) modification.