CIMD Newsletter Inside this issue:

Volume XI, Issue IV
October 2013
CIMD Newsletter
Center for Immunology & Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College
CIMD Well Represented at 16th Annual NYIC Meeting
Amanda McCabe
Heidi Tucker
Alicia Soucy
The 16th Annual Upstate New York Immunology Conference was held at
The Sagamore Resort and Conference Center in Bolton Landing, NY, October
20-23, 2013. There were over 130 attendees, including principle investigators,
postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students. The schedule included two keynote speakers, American Association of Immunologists (AAI) Young investigator Awards, six formal symposia, four oral poster presentations, a vendor fair/
poster mixer, a cruise on Lake George, and a bonfire/recreation center night.
Pamela J. Fink, Ph.D., Professor of Immunology, Department of Immunology at the University of Washington and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Immunology, gave a Keynote Presentation on Sunday entitled, “Post-Thymic T
Cell Maturation.” Dr. Fink also gave a workshop entitled, “Do’s and Don’ts
When Writing and Publishing a Scientific Manuscript.”
Following Sunday evening’s talk, Dr. Jennifer Meyers, AAI Senior Science
Coordinator, and scientific members of AAI presented the AAI Young Investigator Awards to trainees. A welcome reception closed the day’s activities.
Christopher A. Hunter, Ph.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Pathobiology at the University of Pennsylvania gave a Keynote Presentation on
Tuesday entitled, “Imaging the Immune Response to Infection.”
CIMD sent 22 members to the meeting and three faculty were chosen by
the Scientific Advisory Board to give symposia talks. Dennis W. Metzger,
Ph.D., gave a presentation in the Mucosal Immunity Symposium entitled,
“Infections at Mucosal Sites: Viral-Bacterial Co-Infections in the Respiratory
Tract.” Dorina Avram, Ph.D., gave a presentation in the Regulation of T Cell
Immunity I Symposium entitled, "Increased Plasticity of Th17 cells by Expression of Th2 Cytokines Causes Diverted Trafficking and Amelioration of Autoimmune Encephalitis.” Kirsi Jarvinen-Seppo, M.D., Ph.D., gave a presentation in the Immune Dysfunction Symposium entitled, “Maternal Influence on
Development of Allergies in the Infant.”
Two CIMD graduate students, Amanda McCabe and Heidi Tucker, received AAI Young Investigator Awards for their poster abstracts entitled, “IFNγ
Limits Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Mobilization During an Intracellular Bacterial Infection by Maintaining BM-resident Mφs,” and “The Pathway of Antigen Processing Regulates MHC Class II Signaling and Determines
B Cell Fate,” respectively. Both were also asked to give oral poster presentations. Alicia Soucy won the trainee raffle for an iPad.
Plans are already being made for next year’s Conference including securing Keynote Speakers and presenters for workshops. The dates are October
19-22, 2014.
Inside this issue:
Annual CIMD Retreat
2
Conferences, Meetings, and
Study Sections
3
Peer-reviewed Publications
3
Announcements & Seminars
4
CIMD Newsletter
Page 2
CIMD Annual Research Retreat
The Center for Immunology and Microbial
Disease held its Annual Research Retreat at
the River Stone Manor in Scotia, NY, on
Thursday, August 9, 2013.
gave a talk entitled, “IFNγ Limits Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Mobilization
During an Intracellular Bacterial Infection by
Maintaining BM-resident Mφs.”
Members of CIMD voted for their choice
of speakers. William O’Connor, Ph.D.,
Assistant Professor, gave a talk entitled, “On
Immune-mediated Control of GI Inflammation and Restitution.” Qingxia Han, Ph.D.,
Postdoctoral Fellow, gave a talk entitled,
“Hepatitis C Virus Hijacks the Sphingolipid
Biosynthetic Machinery to Replicate Its Genome.” Amanda McCabe, graduate student,
We also had an opportunity to welcome
our new graduate students: Kristen Holland, Olivia Junco, Kyle Lorentsen, and
Abhinit Nagar.
Each student presented posters and
judges viewed each and asked questions.
The judges also met to discuss outcomes
and vote on awards. Award winners were:
Senior Students
1st Place - Amanda McCabe
2nd Place - Alan Sanfilippo
3rd Place - Brian Franz
Junior Students
1st Place - Princess Rodriguez
2nd Place - Briana Lunman
3rd Place - Tiffany Zarrella
Kristen Holland
Kyle Lorentsen
Olivia Junco
Abhinit Nagar
When the wind blows
and the leaves fall!
Volume XI, Issue IV
Page 3
Conferences, Meetings, and Study Sections
Dorina Avram, Ph.D., Chaired a Round
Table Discussion entitled, “How to Mentor
Effectively,” at the American Association of
Immunologist Meeting, in Honolulu, HI, May
3-7, 2013.
Dorina Avram, Ph.D., was invited to give a
talk entitled, “Bcl11b Has Its Fingers in Effector CD4+ T cell Plasticity and Migration,” at
Northwestern University in Chicago, IL, May
13, 2013.
Kouacou Konan, Ph.D., along with postdoctoral fellow, Qingxia Han, and graduate
student, Brian Lunman, attended the 2013
American Society for Virology in State College, PA, July 20-24, 2013. Both QingXia
and Briana gave oral presentations entitled,
“Hepatitis C Virus Hijacks the Sphingolipid
Biosynthetic Machinery to Replicate Its Genome,” and “Hepatitis C Virus Co-opts Rab5
and Its Effectors Proteins to Replicate Its
Genome,” respectively.
Karsten R.O. Hazlett, Ph.D., was invited to
serve as a member of the National Institutes
of Health, Special Emphasis Panel, Centers
for Excellence in Translational Research
U19 grant reviews, July 2013.
Mario Canki, Ph.D., was invited to serve on
the National Institutes of Health, Special
Emphasis Panel HIV/AIDS Innovative Research, eRA Commons Internet Assisted
Review, July 24-25, 2013.
Dorina Avram, Ph.D., was invited to give a
talk entitled, “Increased Plasticity of Th17
Lineage Causes Diverted Trafficking,” at the
Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology: Molecular Mechanisms of
Lymphocyte Development and Function
Meeting held in Steamboat, CO, July 14-19,
2013.
Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, M.D., Ph.D., was
invited to give a presentation entitled,
“Update on food allergies,” at the 19th Annual Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology Conference in Saratoga Springs, NY, July 25,
2013.
Essential for the Mucosal Vaccine Adjuvant
Activity of Cyclic di-GMP in vivo,” at the Cytokine 2013 meeting in San Francisco, CA,
September 29-October 3, 2013.
Kirsi Järvinen-Seppo, M.D., Ph.D., was
invited to give a seminar entitled, “Preventing
allergy: What can be done during pregnancy
and lactation?” at the University of Rochester
Medical Center in Rochester, NY, October 3,
2013.
Kouacou Konan, Ph.D., was invited to give
a presentation entitled, “Hepatitis C Virus
Hijacks the Sphingolipid Biosynthetic Machinery to Replicate its Genome,” at the 20th
International Symposium on Hepatitis C
Virus and Related Viruses in Melbourne,
Australia, October 6-10, 2013.
Dorina Avram, Ph.D., was invited to give a
seminar entitled, “How to Make Effector THelper Cells Go Where We Want? Plasticity
is the Answer,” at the University of Iowa,
Iowa City, IA, October 16, 2013.
Lei Jin, Ph.D., gave a poster presentation
entitled, “MPYS/STING, Not Type I IFN, is
Peer-reviewed Publications
Han Q, Manna D, Belton K, Cole R, and Konan KV. Modulation of hepatitis C virus genome encapsidation by nonstructural protein 4B. J Virol. 87:7409-22, 2013.
Bai Y, Yang J, Eisele LE, Underwood AJ, Koestler BJ, Waters CM, Metzger DW, and Bai G. Two DHH subfamily 1
proteins in Streptococcus pneumoniae possess cyclic Di-AMP phosphodiesterase activity and affect bacterial growth
and virulence. J Bacteriol. 195:5123-32, 2013.
Gupta R, Yang J, Dong Y, Swiatlo E, Zhang JR, Metzger DW, and Bai G. Deletion of arcD in Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 impairs its capsule and attenuates virulence. Infect Immun. 81:3903-11, 2013.
Spence AC, McNaughton SA, Lioret S, Hesketh KD, Crawford DA, and Campbell KJ. A healthy promotion intervention
can affect diet quality in early childhood. J Nutr. 143:1672-8, 2013.
Franchini AM, Hunt D, Melendez JA, and Drake JR. FcγR-driven release of IL-6 by macrophages requires NOX2dependent production of reactive oxygen species. J Biol Chem. 288:25098-108, 2013.
Draborg AH, Duus K, and Houen G. Epstein-Barr virus in systemic autoimmune diseases. Clin Dev Immunol.
2013:535738, 2013.
(Continued on page 4)
Time to rake!
Center for Immunology & Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College
47 New Scotland Ave., MC-151
Albany, NY 12208-3479
Phone: 518-262-6750
Fax: 518-262-6161
Web site:www.amc.edu/research/IMD/
(Continued from page 3)
Le HT and Harton JA. Pyrin- and CARD-only proteins as regulators of NLR functions. Front Immunol. 4:275, 2013.
Dotson RJ, Rabadi SM, Westcott EL, Bradley S. Catlett SV, Banik S, Harton JA, Bakshi CS, and Malik M. Repression of inflammasome by Francisella tularensis during early stages of infection. J Biol Chem. 288:23844-57, 2013.
Pelletier MR, Casella LG, Jones JW, Adams MD, Zurawski DV, Hazlett KR, Doi Y and Ernst RK. Unique structural modifications are present in the
lipopolysaccharide from colistin-resistant strains of Acinetobacter baumannii. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 57:4831-40, 2013.
Järvinen KM, Westfall JE, Seppo MS, James AK, Tsuang AJ, Feustel PH, Sampson HA, and Berin C. Role of maternal elimination diets and human milk IgA in development of cow’s milk allergy in the infants. Clin Exp Allergy. In press.
Järvinen KM, Konstantinou GN, Pilapil M, Arrieta MC, Noone S, Sampson HA, Meddings J, and Nowak-Wegrzyn A. Intestinal permeability in children with food allergy on specific elimination diets. Pediatr Allergy Immunol. 24:589-95, 2013.
Jones DD, Jones M, Deiulio GA, Racine R, MacNamara KC, and Winslow GM. BAFF inhibition impairs bacterial immunity by reducing T cellindependent IgM secretion. Infect Immun. In press.
Järvinen KM. Allergy prevention via co-administration of intact food allergen and its epitope soup? Int Arch Allergy Immunol. 161:195-6, 2013.
Abdul-Sater AA, Tattoli I, Jin L, Grajkowski A, Levi A, Koller BH, Allen IC, Beaucage SL, Fitzgerald KA, Ting JP, Cambier JC, Dirardin SE, and
Schindler C. Cyclic-di-GMP and cyclic-di-AMP activate the NLRP3 Inflammasome. EMBO Rep. 14:900-6, 2013.
Congratulations to Irfan Khan and his wife
on the birth of their daughter,
Aleeza Ali Khan
Monday, September 16, 2013
CIMD Seminars
November 14, 2013
11:00 a.m., Huyck Auditorium
December 12, 2013
Kouacou Konan, Host
11:00 a.m., Huyck Auditorium
William O’Connor, Host
Karla Kirkegaard, Ph.D.
Beth A. McCormick, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Stanford University School of Medicine
Professor and Vice Chair
Department of Microbiology & Physiological Systems
University of Massachusetts Memorial Medical Center
“Host and Viral Targets to Control RNA Virus Spread”
“TBA”