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| Research Interests |
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| The long-term goal of this laboratory is to understand how bacterial pathogens initiate their infectious process. Our research is directed towards bacterial ligands that bind to specific host receptors and mediate bacterial colonization, host cell signaling, and/or optimal toxin delivery. A better understanding of the structure and function of the microbial ligands and host receptors will help to design new prophylactic and therapeutic approaches against bacterial pathogens. Studies in this laboratory are focused on Escherichia coli, Salmonella (see lab web page: http://www.vet.upenn.edu/departments/pathobiology/labs/dmschiff/ ) and, recently, on Yersinia pestis ligands, including adhesive fimbrial organelles. Although Yersinia pestis, the causative agent of Plague, is best known to be transmitted by fleas to cause bubonic Plague, it can also be inhaled, triggering the more contagious and lethal pneumonic Plague. Aerosolized Y. pestis is feared as a most dangerous bioweapon, partly because there is currently no protective vaccine against pneumonic Plague. We are using information from the recently deciphered Y. pestis genome to determine whether putative adhesins and invasins effectively interact with respiratory tract epithelial cells or cells from the innate immune system. We have identified a pneumocyte and pulmonary surfactant receptor for specific Y. pestis fimbriae. We are also developing in vivo-induced antigen technology to identify new adhesins and invasins that are expressed exclusively in Y. pestis-infected hosts. The immunogenic and protective properties of these proteins will be investigated for the development of a multi-subunit vaccine, considering both protein vaccines and protein antigens expressed by attenuated Salmonella vaccines. |
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| Selected Publications : Search PubMed for articles |
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| Zhu, G., H. Chen, B.-K. Choi, F. Del Piero, and D. M. Schifferli . 2005. Histone H1 proteins act as receptors for the 987P fimbriae of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. J. Biol. Chem. 280:23057-23065.
Schifferli, D. M. 29 March 2005, posting date. Chapter 8.3.2.1.2, Adhesins of Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli Strains That Infect Animals. In R. Curtiss III (Editor in Chief), EcoSal-Escherichia coli and Salmonella: Cellular and Molecular Biology. ASM Press, Washington, D.C. Honarvar, S., Choi, B.-K., and Schifferli, D.M. 2003. Phase variation of the 987P-like CS18 fimbriae of human enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli is regulated by site-specific recombinases. Mol. Microbiol. 48:157-171. Chen, H., and D.M. Schifferli. 2003. Construction, characterization and immunogenicity of a pgtE mutant of Salmonella as a novel vaccine vector displaying multiple viral epitopes expressed from SPI-2 promoters. Infect. Immun. 71:4664-4673. |
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| Graduate Groups |
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Cell and Molecular Biology, at http://www.med.upenn.edu/camb/fac/Schifferli.html Microbiology and Virology, at http://www.med.upenn.edu/micro/gradprog.html |
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| Postdocs and Fellowships |
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| Huaiqing Chen, Ph.D. John (Guoqiang) Zhu, Ph.D. Aizhen Guo, Ph.D. |
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