Newswise — COLUMBUS, Ohio – As evidence that a newly emerging and perhaps more virulent strain of “bird flu” is spreading in China, a multi-disciplinary group of researchers from around the world are gathering today at The Ohio State University Center for Microbial Interface Biology (CMIB) to discuss ongoing research of infectious disease threats ranging from flu to HIV, tuberculosis to drug-resistant bacteria.
“It’s easy to believe that infectious diseases that are happening in other countries don’t really impact us here in the United States, but in today’s connected world, that’s just not true anymore,” says CMIB director Larry Schlesinger, MD. “What we are learning here is helping save the lives of people at the hospital next door and people half way around the world.”
Celebrating its tenth anniversary, the CMIB was one of the first centers in the nation to pull together multi-disciplinary teams to research infectious disease from angles ranging from genomics to pharmacology to public health. Under Schlesinger’s leadership, the approach has resulted in major breakthroughs in drug discovery, diagnostics and vaccines, particularly in the areas of tuberculosis and drug-resistant superbugs. Since 2010, CMIB members have published 550 peer-reviewed papers in 271 different journals and received nearly $65 million in federal funding.
“There is an intricate dance between a bacteria or virus and the human immune system that happens on molecular levels that we’re only just beginning to tease apart because the technology is getting better,” says Schlesinger. “As we’re seeing with the newest bird flu – outbreaks move fast. From a community and global health perspective, ongoing sharing of research is so critical to making breakthroughs. We’re still not as fast as the microbes are, but we’re getting better, and we’re winning more often.”
This is the 5th CMIB Research Retreat. It is showcasing the research from nearly 90 faculty members plus their research staff and students across seven colleges, institutes and centers, and includes close partnerships with Nationwide Children’s Hospital, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center (OARDC) and a growing number of private partners. It continues to grow in stature and impact nationally and internationally due to the significant productivity and visibility of its members. There are major thematic programs in drug discovery, biofilms in human medicine and antimicrobial resistance.
The meeting’s featured oral presentations by Ohio State scientists cover a wide variety of topics, including advancements in HIV, how clinicians can win against the drug-resistant bacteria currently ravaging the nation’s hospitals, super strains of tuberculosis and insights into quirks of both microbes and the human immune system that can be leveraged to prevent disease and death. Session presentations include:
• Three decades of HIV transmission and prevention efforts. Keynote Speaker Myron Cohen, MD, J. Herbert Bate Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Microbiology and Immunology, and Public Health at The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
• Zinc supplementation to stop sepsis. Beth Besecker, Assistant Professor, Department of Internal Medicine, Ohio State College of Medicine, “Immunologic Impact of Zinc Status During Sepsis”
• Hep C – the 21st century’s newest chronic illness. Christopher Walker, Professor, Department of Pediatrics, Nationwide Children’s Hospital, “Mechanisms of Immune Control, Failure, and Reconstitution in Hepatitis C Virus Infection.”
• What TB in the elderly can teach us about the human immune system. Joanne Turner, Associate Professor, Department of Microbial Infection and Immunity, Ohio State College of Medicine, “Is Failing Adaptive Immunity the Cause of Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in the Elderly?” • How Lyme disease’s unique use of metal helps it bypass the immune system. Xin Li, Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Biosciences, Ohio State College of Veterinary Medicine “Living in Two Worlds: Understanding the Metal Biology of the Lyme Disease Spirochete.”
• Infectious disease prevention takes a (Malawi) village. Alison Norris, Assistant Professor, Division of Epidemiology, Ohio State College of Public Health, “The Role of Decision Making in the Prevention and Treatment Of Infectious Diseases.” “This group represents a range of academic expertise and underscores the unique collaborative environment at CMIB that has allowed it to become one of the premiere infectious disease research centers in the nation in less than a decade,” notes Carolyn Whitacre,PhD, vice president for research at Ohio State, who will also be providing opening remarks on the second day of the two-day event.
In addition to featured presentations, more than 85 poster presentations by graduate students, post-docs and faculty and staff will on display at the Biological Research Tower lobby. Scientists will be sharing their poster abstracts on both days, which the public can attend. Each evening, graduate and undergraduate students will vote on their favorite posters.
The retreat will be held at the Biomedical Research Tower, located on 12th Avenue on the Ohio State University Campus on Thursday April 19 from 12pm to 8pm and Friday, April 19 from 7:30am to 5pm. CMIB will be live-tweeting highlights from the research presentations on Thursday, April 18, using the hashtag #OSUCMIB. A recap of the event will also be posted at http://osumcnews.wordpress.com/. For more information about the meeting, visit http://cmib.osu.edu/retreat/. For more information about the CMIB, visit http://cmib.osu.edu/about/.
According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 6.7 million people died of infectious diseases in 2008. In 2008, there were 33.4 million people living with HIV, with approximately 2.7 million new infections of HIV and 2 million deaths from AIDS. The same report indicated that tuberculosis kills 1.7 million people each year, and that 1.6 million people still die from pneumococcal diseases every year, making it the number one vaccine-preventable cause of death worldwide.
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