Kashanchi lab has recently obtained multiple fundings on HIV, HTLV and EV diagnostic and therapeutic research. The fundings total more than a million dollars a year for multiple years and are from NIH, Campbell Foundation, and DOD. The topics range from silencing of HIV in the brains of infected individuals; detection of EVs from gut microbiome and its connection to CNS in HIV patients (Collaboration with University of Miami); Use of EVs from Babesia infected cells for vaccines (Collaboration with Yale and ATCC); Use of immune therapy on HTLV-1 infected cells; and detection of specific modified RNA in HIV-1 infected cells (Collaboration with Harvard).
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Dr. Hakami is the featured guest for the next Mason Science Series event hosted by the College of Science Dean Fernando Miralles-Wilhelm. Dr. Hakami will discuss his novel research into the regulation of immunity by extracellular vesicles (EVs) and also the development and characterization of a novel nanoparticle-based therapeutic platform called NESTED for treating infectious diseases. For more details, please go to the following link:
Dr. Ramin M. Hakami has received an $80,000 grant from the Henry Klopp Trust for studies of how a novel nanoparticle-based platform called NESTED provides protection against infectious diseases
The van Hoek lab gives two talks at the upcoming Spring 2024 meeting of the Washington, D.C. Branch of the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). https://www.washingtondcasm.org/
Doctoral students Ashley Carpenter and Lulu Alsalih’s joint abstract has been selected for a Lightning Talk.
Post-doc Sarah Alobaid’s abstract has been selected for an early career talk.
The Meeting is April 12th at Howard University.
This #FacultyFriday features Yuntao Wu, Professor,
He has been studying viruses for over 30 years, and for the past 20 years, he has been primarily focused on studying HIV infection. Read below to learn about his research, and visit:
Research team receives $2.95M in NIH funding to study cell-derived extracellular vesicle mediated epigenetic HIV silencing in the brain.
A collaboration including researchers from the Center for Infectious Disease Research at George Mason University is developing and characterizing a highly innovative modular approach that will utilize extracellular vesicles to deliver anti-HIV genes to virus-infected cells in the brain in an effort to epigenetically silence HIV expression in a long-term and stable manner.
Fatah Kashanchi, professor of Virology and Director of the Mason Science Laboratory of Molecular Virology, is the primary investigator on the National Institutes of Health funded collaboration which also includes Mason researchers, Yuriy Kim, Anastasia Marie Williams, and Heather Branscome; Lenny Schultz, a professor from The Jackson Laboratory; and Mason Science affiliate faculty, Kevin Morris, professor and director at The Griffith University Cell and Gene Therapy Group, Menzies Health Institute School of Pharmacology and Medical Sciences, in Queensland, Australia.
The methodology incorporates extracellular exosome delivery. Kashanchi said the effort could be likened to a package delivery. “The team is creating packages that are sent directly to a specific address within the central nervous system, perhaps to the brain ‘zip code’ or to the lymph nodes.” This package will change the actual structure of that viral genome in the way it twists and turns so it can no longer be active. “For example, think of a normal double helix, then change the structure so that DNA is no longer usable, effectively silencing it with no side effects,” Kashanchi said. This silencing period would be in effect for the individual’s lifetime.
This method may also lead to a therapeutically relevant means to not only control HIV/HAND, (HAND is an HIV associated neurocognitive disorder that impacts memory and thinking), but could usher in a new highly innovative methodology that controls the epigenetic state of those genes involved in various other human diseases.
Kashanchi received $631,369 of the anticipated $2.95M from the National Institutes of Health for this research. Funding began in August 2023 and will end in late May 2028.
This and other breakthrough research efforts will be discussed in more detail during the upcoming annual meeting of the American Society of Intercellular Communication, (ASICbio.org), scheduled to occur from October 12 to 15, 2023.
Dr. Wu published a recent invited review article about HIV preintegration transcription and host antagonism.
The article gives the most comprehensive review of the subject in the past 20 years. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37345240/
Dr. Yuntao Wu is a leading expert on HIV preintegration transcription. He discovered the synthesis of a functional Nef protein prior to HIV integration (Wu and Marsh, 2001, Science, 293:1503).
This image below summarizes the main points covered in this review.
Fahad Alsaab, a current PhD student in Biosciences (MID concentration) and Shravani Bobde (a graduate of the same program) worked together to design and test a set of new peptides called HRZN, as in “horizon”, designed to be effective against MDR A. baumannii. The most active peptide killed these wound-infecting bacteria with a MIC of 4 ug/ml.
Additional authors include Scott N. Dean, another former member of the van Hoek Lab and graduate of the PhD Biosciences program at GMU and Gabriel Ascoli, a summer ASSIP student who worked with Fahad.
The paper was published in the journal Antibiotics (IF 4.8).
May 25th, 2023
The increase in bacteria capable of resisting some of the strongest medications available poses a serious threat to the health of all people. It is critical that researchers identify new ways to treat these infections and Biosciences PhD student, Alena James, is up to the task. She recently received a $5,000 Cosmos Scholar Grant to support research focused on different ways to treat one of these bacteria.
James’ research is an extension of a larger study funded by the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program and led by Monique van Hoek, Professor of microbiology and infectious diseases in Mason’s School of Systems Biology. Van Hoek’s study focuses on Toxin-Antitoxin systems in bacteria and seeks to disrupt the ability of the “antitoxin” gene to regulate the “toxin” gene—ultimately killing the bacteria. If this approach proves successful, this would be a large step towards new treatments for bacteria that are otherwise resistant to available medications.
James will use the funding received through the Cosmos Grant to apply this approach to the biothreat bacterium Francisella. According to van Hoek,“the ability to specifically target expression of the toxin gene and cause bacterial cell death is a promising strategy in the fight against multidrug-resistant and dangerous bacteria.”
James earned a BA in Political Science and BS in Biology from Winthrop University, followed quickly with a Master’s in biology. James said she always held an interest in microbiology. As one of four children, she saw firsthand how financially difficult doctor and hospital visits could be on her parents. James said she wanted to be armed with enough medical knowledge to either treat herself and family directly, or allow her to make more informed decisions during health care visits.
“My knowledge is power and the more I know about infectious diseases and about human anatomy I feel like I’m empowered to try and make small changes to protect myself and those I love against small microorganisms,” said James.
James started her career as an adjunct professor, teaching microbiology at York Technical College, and then continued her education with an MS in Biodefense from Mason’s Schar School of Policy and Government. Her MS led to several internships and contract supporting assignments with the government, including the State Department. Upon receiving an ORISE STEM Fellowship (Oak Ridge Institute for Science and Education), James handled biodefense projects, including risk management and risk analysis, for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate
While continuing full-time contract work, James said she wanted to further her education once more in microbiology—leading to her acceptance in Mason Science’s PhD in Biosciences.
“Everyone in the program is supportive and we really push each other and learn from one another” James said. “Dr. van Hoek has created a really safe space for everyone.”
James said she was thrilled to see she was assigned van Hoek as a mentor after receiving her acceptance letter to the program. “I was familiar with her work and reached out to her immediately to start working in her lab.”
James said she felt honored to receive Cosmos funding to support her research, as it recognizes the hard work she continues to put forth while balancing her full-time job. She hopes her work will support current scientific research and open the door to broader applications.
May 11th, 2023
Congratulations to Dr. Hakami, and his student Sanskruthi Sreepangi for winning first place in Life Sciences at the 2023 College of Science Undergraduate Research Colloquium.
Life Sciences (Biology, Neuroscience, Forensic Science)
1st Place | Sanskruthi Sreepangi, Mentor: Ramin Hakami, Purification and Characterization of RIG-I Inducing RNA Species within Small Extracellular Vesicles Released from Cells Infected with Rift Valley Fever Virus (Poster #12) |
For more information go to https://science.gmu.edu/news/college-science-undergraduate-research-colloquium-recognizes-2023-winners