Infectious Disease :: Burroughs Wellcome Fund awards $8 million to infectious disease investigators

The Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease awards are made to encourage aggressive, multidisciplinary approaches to investigating pathogenesis.

When the 16 recipients of the Burroughs Wellcome Fund’s Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease award were notified that they had received the award, there was more good news. The award amount had increased to $500,000 over a five-year period from $400,000.

The Investigators in Pathogenesis of Infectious Disease awards are made to encourage aggressive, multidisciplinary approaches to investigating pathogenesis. BWF launched the program in 2002 and has made 58 awards for an investment of approximately $24.8 million in the careers of investigators who are working on understanding the interaction between the human host and the infectious agent?bacterial, viral, fungal, or parasitic.

All awardees hold tenure-track faculty positions and must be nominated by degree-granting institutions in the United States or Canada.

“The constant threat of infectious disease is of global concern,? BWF President Dr. Enriqueta Bond said. “Understanding the underlying principles of how the microbial world interacts with the human host is of paramount importance. We are pleased to play a role in the expansion of knowledge in this important scientific field.?

Following are the 2007 award recipients, along with their institutions and research projects:

Benjamin K. Chen, M.D., Ph.D.Mount Sinai School of Medicine Dissemination of HIV through virological synapses

Andrew Darwin, Ph.D.New York University School of MedicineMechanisms of Pseudomonas aeruginosa tolerance to secretin-induced stress during host infection

Michael R. Farzan, Ph.D.Harvard Medical SchoolParallel identification of obligate viral receptors

Britt Glaunsinger, Ph.D.University of California-BerkeleyGlobal modulation of cellular gene expression by an oncogenic human herpesvirus

Karen J. Guillemin, Ph.D.University of OregonRegulation of gut epithelial cell homeostasis by the microbiota

Lora V. Hooper, Ph.D.University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center-DallasInnate immune responses to commensal bacteria at gut epithelial surfaces

Eckhard Jankowsky, Ph.D.Case Western Reserve UniversityMolecular mechanisms of pathogen identification by the pattern recognition receptors RIG-I and MDA5

Barbara I. Kazmierczak, M.D., Ph.D.Yale UniversityThe role of injury in Pseudomonas aeruginosa pulmonary infection

Manuel Llinas, Ph.D.Princeton UniversityGlobal analysis of the Plasmodium falciparum metabolome

Harmit S. Malik, Ph.D.University of WashingtonEvolution-based identification and functional study of intracellular host-virus interactions

Dorian B. McGavern, Ph.D.The Scripps Research InstituteChemical and molecular approaches to probe viral pathogenesis in real time

Yorgo Modis, Ph.D.Yale UniversityCell entry and innate immune recognition of flaviviruses

Neal Silverman, Ph.D.University of Massachusetts Medical SchoolIntracellular bacterial recognition in the Drosophila innate immune response

Raphael H. Valdivia, Ph.D.Duke University Medical CenterThe role of secreted bacterial proteases in chlamydial pathogenesis

Andres Vazquez-Torres, D.V.M., Ph.D.University of Colorado-Denver and Health Sciences Center-Fitzsimons CampusEffects of nitrosative stress on bacterial two component regulatory systems in innate host defense

Ning Zheng, Ph.D.University of WashingtonViral hijacking of host ubiquitin ligase machinery


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