Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series in Infectious Diseases
Seminar Coordinators:
Bryan Hsu and Clayton Caswell
The Center for Emerging, Zoonotic and Arthropod-borne Pathogens (CeZAP) introduces the CeZAP Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series in Infectious Diseases. This university wide seminar series at Virginia Tech invites outstanding scientists nationally to give presentations to CeZAP and broader university community on topics of current interest in the broad area of infectious diseases. Diversity of seminar topics is essential to meeting the purpose of the Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series in Infectious Diseases. Each spring, nominations for nationally distinguished speakers for the seminar series for the following academic year will be solicited from CeZAP affiliated faculty. The seminar coordinators (Drs. Jonathan Auguste and Bryan Hsu) will coordinate the selection of speakers, and the CeZAP faculty nominators will serve as the host for the national speakers. We expect to host at least one nationally distinguished speaker each month, and the remaining speakers will feature our own CeZAP affiliated faculty.
FALL 2023 SCHEDULE
Seminar Date & Time:
Thursdays at 12:30 - 1:30 pm
In person in LS 1 Conference Room 101
(Note: this is a new location from our previous seminars). Virtual seminars will be indicated below.
August 24, 2023
Rogerio Bataglioli, Ph.D. Postdoc, Hsu Lab
"Developing a prophylactic approach to preventing Salmonella Typhimurium infection by the rational design of phage-bacterial interactions"
Host: Bryan Hsu
Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurim is a notorious diarrheal pathogen and is a contributor to the emergence and spread of antibiotic-resistant clinical isolates. Bacteriophages (phages) are bacterial viruses that have received renewed interest as antimicrobial agents. One limitation to this application of phages (“Phage Therapy”) is that phages must be administered after the establishment of infection and the quantity of dosed phage is substantially lower than that of the established pathogen. We hypothesize that establishing a sustained basal concentration of anti-pathogen phage in the gut will provide protection against invading pathogens. To test this, we genetically engineer the commensal gut bacteria, Escherichia coli, to carry a virulent mutant of a S. Typhimurium phage, P22, as a prophage by providing the lysogenic machinery in trans. We find that a virulent phage P22 phage produced from E. coli is better at killing S. Typhimurium in vitro than P22 or E. coli alone. Our work represents an alternative approach to applying phage therapy in the gut: as prophylactic protection instead of remedial treatment.
August 31, 2023
T.M. Murali, Ph.D. Professor & Associate Department Head of Research, Department of Computer Science, COE
"Pandemic Prediction and Prevention: A Destination Areas Project"
The Pandemic Prediction and Prevention Destination Areas (PPP DA) project has an aspirational vision: a world where we accurately foresee pandemics and proactively minimize their impact. The PPP DA includes faculty, scientists, graduate, and undergraduate students from eight colleges at Virginia Tech working in collaboration with leading researchers at other universities and partners. Our mission is to forecast and control future viral pandemics by addressing the grand challenge of uncovering the genetic, molecular, cellular, and chemical rules of life underlying virus-host interactions through community-based and ethically grounded research. I will describe our research thrusts, plans for hiring new faculty colleagues, and how the PPP DA aligns with the Beyond Boundaries vision of our institution. I will present our plans to educate and train a new generation of scientists with transformative technical and professional skills to form convergent teams that can protect and empower humans by anticipating future outbreaks and preventing them from becoming pandemics. To conclude, we will have an open discussion on ways in which the PPP DA and CeZAP can work together.
September 7, 2023
Jean Celli, Ph.D. Professor, Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Vermont
“Roles of Brucella Type IV effector proteins in bacterial proliferation”
Host: Clay Caswell, Ph.D.
The bacterial pathogen Brucella abortus uses Type IV secretion-mediated intracellular delivery of effector proteins to promote its infectious cycle and proliferation in phagocytic cells of the infected host. While several Type IV effectors are known to modulate innate immune, cell-intrinsic responses or promote biogenesis of its niche of replication, whether Brucella intracellular growth within its vacuole requires Type IV effector functions has remained unclear. Here I will present recent evidence that B. abortus delivers various effector proteins that specifically contribute to intracellular proliferation by targeting endoplasmic reticulum-associated and endocytic cellular pathways, highlighting global remodeling of host functions during infection.
September 14, 2023:
Helen Blackwell, Ph.D. Norman C. Craig Professor, Department of Chemistry, University of Wisconsin-Madison
"Chemical strategies to intercept and alter bacterial communication pathways"
Host: Ann Stevens, Ph.D.
Our research is broadly focused on the design, synthesis, and application of non-native ligands that can intercept bacterial quorum sensing and provide new insights into its role in host/microbe interactions and the environment. At high cell densities, many common bacteria use quorum sensing to switch from a single cell existence to that of a multicellular community. This lifestyle switch is significant; only in groups will pathogenic bacteria turn on virulence pathways and grow into impervious communities called biofilms that are the bases of chronic biofouling and infections. We have developed a range of non-native analogs of autoinducer signals that can block or activate quorum sensing pathways, some with high selectivities, potencies, and chemical stabilities. These molecules provide a novel approach to study quorum sensing with both spatial and temporal control in a range of settings. We have applied our chemical tools in vitro and in vivo to investigate quorum sensing as an anti-infective target. Ongoing work is focused on understanding their interactions with key protein receptors involved in quorum sensing pathways, with native signals, and with membranes. In this talk, I will introduce my lab’s research approach and highlight our most recent results.
September 21, 2023:
ID IGEP 1st Research Rotation Presentations
September 28, 2023:
Seminar will be held in a different location: Newman Library Multi-Purpose Room (100) and via Zoom
Dr. White’s seminar is part of a broader Human Dimensions of Infectious Diseases research symposium.
Alexandre White, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, Johns Hopkins University
"Epidemic Orientalism: Race, Capital, and the Governance of Infectious Disease".
Host: Tom, Ewing, Ph.D.
For most of the 21st century much of the world has taken for granted our ability to fight back pandemics and control them with little effect on day-to-day life. Until the emergence of COVID-19 few in the western world would have had any occasion to consider the histories of infectious disease control that have managed the spread of pandemic threats around the world. Epidemic Orientalism: Race, Capital and the Governance of Infectious Disease tells the story of how epidemic threats become the focus of international management, regulation and control, as well as the political, economic and racial ideologies that have shaped international coordination to stop pandemic spread.
October 5, 2023 – Virtual Seminar
Isabel Gordo, Ph.D.
Title: TBD
Host: Brian Hsu, Ph.D.
October 12, 2023:
Stefan Rothenburg, Ph.D. Professor, Dept. Medical Microbiology and Immunology, University of California, Davis
"Poxvirus Evolution and the Molecular Basis for Poxvirus Host Range"
Host: Frank Aylward, Ph.D.
October 19, 2023:
ID IGEP 2nd Research Rotation Presentations
October 26, 2023:
Jingqiu Liao, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, COE
Title: TBD
November 2, 2023:
Marshall Bloom, M.D. Chief, Biology of Vector-Borne Viruses Section, NIH
Title: Tick-borne flavivirus research
Host: Gillian Eastwood, Ph.D.
November 9, 2023:
Kelly Doran Ph.D. Professor of Immunology & Microbiology, University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine
Title: TBD
Host: Bryan Hsu, Ph.D., Clay Caswell, Ph.D.
November 16, 2023:
ID IGEP 3rd Research Rotation Presentations
November 30, 2023:
Aaron Gross Ph.D. Associate Professor, Department of Entomology, CALS
Title: TBD
