Schedule

9:10 - 9:40

Avindra Nath, M.D., Senior Investigator Director, Section of Infections of the Nervous System
National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD
“HIV Reservoir in the brain: Can it be cured?”

9:45 - 10:05

Dennis Kolson, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Neurology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Human immunodeficiency virus-mediated neurodegeneration: therapeutic targeting of the macrophage anti-oxidant response"

10:10 - 10:30

Timothy J. Cunningham, Ph.D., Professor of Neuroscience and Anatomy
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Inflammation and Neuron Death: Therapeutic Studies with Secreted Phospholipase A2 Inhibitors"

10:35 - 10:55

Olimpia Meucci, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology and Physiology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Neuroprotective function of the chemokine CXCL12 and its potential role in HIV associated neurocognitive disorders”

Schedule

11:00 - 12:00 noon

Paul Offit, M.D., Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Professor of Pediatrics;
Director, Vaccine Education Center, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA
"The Rotavirus Vaccine: From Bench to Bedside."

Schedule

1:30 - 1:55

Kiaran Kirk, Ph.D., Professor, Research School of Biology
The Australian National University, Canberra, Australia
“A sodium pump as an antimalarial drug target”

2:00 - 2:20

Lawrence W. Bergman, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"A New Myosin Motor in Malaria Parasites"

2:25 - 2:40

Michael Mather, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“The unusual ATP synthase complexes of a ciliate and a malaria parasite: evolution of a central player in bioenergetics”

2:45 - 2:55

Elamaran Melbalan, M.S., Graduate Student, Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Trafficking in Plasmodium yoelii: export of proteins from the intracellular malarial parasite to the host reticulocyte membrane”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:25

David Mosser, Ph.D., Professor of Cell Biology and Molecular Genetics
University of Maryland, College Park, MD
“The role of macrophages in promoting and preventing inflammatory diseases”

3:30 - 3:50

Jacob Russell, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Biology
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
"Exploring the microbiomes of insect guts: effects of diet and relatedness on the composition of symbiotic communities"

3:55 - 4:10

Shira Ninio, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Novel virulence determinants of Legionella pneumophila identified using an injected bacterial protein”

4:15 - 4:25

Jeffrey P. Holt, Graduate Student in Biological Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
“Identification of a phase-variable restriction barrier of Campylobacter jejuni”

Schedule

5:00 - 5:25

Michael K. Riscoe, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Director, Experimental Chemotherapy Laboratory
Oregon Health Sciences University and Portland VA medical Center, Portland, OR
"Revisiting Historical Leads for Clues to the Future of Antimalarial Drug Design"

5:30 - 5:50

Purnima Bhanot, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics
UMDNJ – New Jersey Medical School, Newark, NJ
“Preventing malaria infection by targeting Plasmodium pre-erythrocytic stages”

5:55 - 6:15

Akhil Vaidya, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Molecular Pathways Targeted by Novel Antimalarial Drugs”

6:20 - 6:30

Scott Baliban, Graduate Student, Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Toxin-based DNA vaccination for the prevention of Clostridium difficile-associated disease"

Schedule

9:00 - 9:25

Sabita Roy, Ph.D., Professor of Surgery
Director, Division of Infection, Inflammation and Vascular Biology
University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
"Morphine induction of Toll like receptors on microgial cells potentiates HIV-1 TAT induced neuropathogenesis in a pneumococcal pneumoniae co-infection model"

9:35 - 10:00

Ellen Unterwald, Ph.D., Professor of Pharmacology
Director, Center for Substance Abuse Research
Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Modulation of cocaine-induced behaviors and neurotransmission by the chemokine CXCL12"

10:05 - 10:25

Tracy Fischer-Smith, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Neuroscience
Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Morphine and SIV mediated neuroimmune modulation in rhesus macaques”

10:30 - 10:40

Nizari Parikh, Graduate Student, Molecular and Cellular Biology and Genetics Program
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Cocaine alters the immunomodulatory profile in HIV-1-infected patients”

10:45 - 10:55

Jonathan Pitcher, MD/PHD Student, Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Morphine-induced alteration of ferritin heavy chain and disruption of the chemokine receptor CXCR4 in neurons"

Schedule

11:00 - 12:00

John Mekalanos, Ph.D., Professor and Chair, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA
"A View to a Kill: Molecular and Cellular Interactions in Pathogenesis"

Schedule

1:30 - 1:55

Thirumala-Devi Kanneganti, Ph.D., Associate Member, Department of Immunology
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Memphis, TN
“Regulators of Inflammatory Responses”

2:00 - 2:20

Carol M. Artlett, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Inflammasome activation in fibrotic disease”

2:25 - 2:40

Uri Hershberg, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems
Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
“Detecting inflammatory diversification of the B cell repertoire at the level of a single clone and as a whole”

2:45 - 2:55

Alina Boesteanu, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“The role of PI3K p110delta isoform in reducing morbidity and mortality in Influenza virus infected mice”

Schedule

3:00 - 3:25

David B. Weiner, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Synthetic DNA Vaccine Approaches for Difficult Pathogens”

3:30 - 3:50

Anand Mehta, D. Phil, Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Doylestown, PA
"Human hepatitis B virus utilizes a genetic approach to limit antigen presentation"

3:55 - 4:10

Sonia Navas-Martin, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Hepatitis C Virus and Macrophages”

4:15 - 4:25

Siddhartha Rawat, Graduate Student, Molecular & Cell Biology & Genetics Program
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Akt and NF-kB pathways differentially regulate HBV replication”

Schedule

5:00 - 5:25

Kamel Khalili, Ph.D., Laura H. Carnell Professor of Neuroscience
Chair, Department of Neuroscience and Director, Center for Neurovirology
Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA

5:30 - 5:55

James C. Alwine, Ph.D., Professor of Cancer Biology
University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Dealing with stress: The maintenance of mTOR kinase activity during human cytomegalovirus infection”

6:00 - 6:15

Michael Bouchard, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Hepatitis B virus regulation of calcium signaling; a potential factor in the development of hepatitis B virus associated liver cancer”

6:20 - 6:35

Pooja Jain, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"The dynamic interaction of Tax, RNAi, and chromatin remodelers determines the fate of HTLV-1 infection"

Schedule

9:00 - 9:25

Richard G. Pestell, M.D., Ph.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Cancer Biology;
Director, Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson, Thomas Jefferson University, Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA
“Novel Roles of Cyclins in Cancer”

9:30 - 9:50

Lynn Pulliam, Ph.D., Professor of Laboratory Medicine and Medicine, University of California, San Francisco; Chief, Microbiology, Veterans Affairs Medical Center, San Francisco, CA
“Search for predictive biomarkers of neurocognitive impairment in HIV and/or HCV infections”

9:55 - 10:15

Avi Ma’ayan, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Pharmacology and Systems Therapeutics, Mount Sinai School of Medicine, Icahn Medicine Institute, New York, NY
"Data Mining Strategies in Systems Biology and Systems Pharmacology"

10:20 - 10:35

Peter Clark, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Computational Medicine Center
Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA
“Comprehensive Transcriptome Profiling of Colorectal Cancer Dukes Staging Reveals miRNA Interactions and Phenotype Markers”

10:40 - 10:55

Surbhi Jain, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Fellow, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Epigenetic Modifications Of The Viral And Host DNA In HCC: A Biomarker Perspective”

Schedule

11:00 - 12:00

Bruce Beutler, M.D., 2011 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine Recipient, Professor and Director, Center for the Genetics of Host Defense, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
“How mammals sense infection"

Schedule

1:30 - 1:55

Phalguni Gupta, Ph.D., Professor and Assistant Chair of Infectious Disease and Microbiology
University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, PA
“Development of a Ring Formulated microbicide against HIV”

2:00 - 2:20

Peter Katsikis, M.D., Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
"Targeting HIV-1 and TLR7/9 as a microbicide strategy"

2:25 - 2:40

Michele Kutzler, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases and HIV Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Improving prophylactic HIV-1 DNA vaccines through optimization, deliver and immunoadjuvants: from bench to bedside"

2:45 - 2:55

Rosemary Bastian, Graduate Student, Biomedical Engineering Program
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science and Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
"HIV-1 Inactivation and Virolysis by gp120 Targeting Before Host Cell Exposure"

Schedule

3:00 - 3:30

Rita Effros, Ph.D., Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
University of California, Los Angeles, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, Los Angeles, CA
“HIV/AIDS: accelerated aging of the adaptive immune system”

3:35 - 4:00

Donna Murasko, Ph.D., Professor of Biology
Dean, College of Arts and Sciences, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
“Changes in Immune Response with Age: Nature or Nurture?”

4:05 - 4:30

Claudio Torres, Ph.D., Research Assistant Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Astrocyte Senescence and neurodegenerative disease: implications for HIV-associated neurocognitive disorder“

Schedule

5:00 - 5:25

Garth D. Ehrlich, Ph.D., Executive Director
Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny-Singer Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA

5:30 - 5:50

Aydin Tozeren, Ph.D., Distinguished Professor and Director, Center for Integrated Bioinformatics
School of Biomedical Engineering, Science & Health Systems, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA
“Bioinformatics as a tool for deciphering the grammar of crosstalk between host and pathogen”

5:55 - 6:10

Michael Nonnemacher, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“HIV-1 LTR polymorphisms associated with alterations in clinical course and neurologic disease”

6:15 - 6:25

Jennifer Kress-Bennett, Graduate Student, Microbiology and Immunology Graduate Program
Center for Genomic Sciences, Allegheny Singer Research Institute, Pittsburgh, PA
Drexel University College of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA
“Large-scale comparative genomics analysis provided for the characterization of a novel gene family in Haemophilus influenzae associated with invasiness”