Category: News
2022 Ignition Awards Recipients Named
The WaNPRC Pilot Program provides funding to collect preliminary data for future funding opportunities. The goal is to fund projects with innovative research endeavors that have translational implications to move toward human applications. This year there was a competitive pool of applications and we were able to provide funding to 2 projects.
Please join us in congratulating the Grant Year 60 recipients of the WaNPRC Pilot Program which exemplify the commitment to cutting edge science, collaboration and also support the 3Rs (Reduction, Refinement and Replacement) of animal use.
- Kevin Hybiske, PhD, (University of Washington, Global Health, Medicine – Allergy and Infectious Disease, Microbiology) – “Identification of the immune correlates leading to clearance of a genetically attenuated Chlamydia trachmatis strain in the cervix of pig-tailed macaques”
Abstract: Chlamydia trachomatis (CT) is the most common sexually transmitted bacterial infection worldwide. The lack of a preventative vaccine is in large part due to our poor understanding of the natural history of infection and the immune correlates of protection against CT infection and reinfection. We recently identified a virulence factor (GarD) in CT that is critical for the infection of pig-tailed macaques, and we showed that this protein functions in vitro to disrupt a major intracellular immune defense pathway. Our preliminary data indicate that this is a species-specific virulence factor and an important contributor to CT tropism for humans and nonhuman primates. Published and unpublished data by our team have shown that CT strains with null mutations in this gene are attenuated for growth in the female macaque cervicovaginal infection model. In this pilot study, we will determine the key parameters for infection and clearance of this novel genetically attenuated CT strain, through evaluating immune markers associated with clearance of the mutant strain and protection against re-challenge with wildtype CT. Our goal is to generate critical data for a subsequent NIH grant application focused on pursuing the vaccine potential of this strain and determining the immune correlates of protection against CT in humans and primates.
- Erik Settles , PhD, (Northern Arizona University) – “Identification of Valley Fever epitopes and TCR clones in naturally exposed pig-tailed macaques”
Abstract: Coccidioidomycosis (Valley Fever (VF)) is caused by two species of fungi, Coccidioides immitis and C. posadasii, with highest reported prevalence in Arizona and California. Due to similar clinical presentations, VF is frequently misdiagnosed and mistreated as bacterial or viral pneumonia, resulting in unnecessary antibiotic use and unresolved illness. Severe VF manifests in <5% of symptomatic cases but can be life-threatening. T cell responses play an important role in vaccine-induced protection in animal models and appear to be critical for resolution of infection in humans. The objective of this proposal is to identify T cell clones and their associated epitopes that are generated in pig-tailed macaques, a potential model for VF disease and vaccination. Our focus on the pig-tailed macaque model is due to their established VF susceptibility and the availability of naturally-infected colony animals from the WaNPRC Arizona Breeding Colony (ABC). The Arizona macaque disease incidence is similar to the Arizona human population and represents a valuable source of biospecimens. Live PBMC cells from naturally exposed and non-exposed pig-tailed macaques will be collected from the ABC or in Seattle. Macaque immune cell samples will be stimulated with Coccidioides-specific peptides, sorted, and TCR sequenced. Reactive antigens, epitopes, and TCRs will be identified using a set of peptides already in-house and reactivity will be correlated with data from human studies. If successful, this project will generate preliminary data for future grant applications, identify peptide epitopes and TCR sequences for diagnostic purposes, and provide initial antigenic targets for vaccination studies.
The WaNPRC performs critical biomedical research leading to new advances in science and medicine. WaNPRC researchers are working to develop effective vaccines and therapies for HIV/AIDS and other infectious diseases as well as new advances in genetics, neuroscience, vision, and stem cell biology and therapy. The WaNPRC directly supports the National Institutes of Health’s mission to translate scientific advances into meaningful improvement in healthcare and medicine.
WaNPRC’s Kristina Adams Waldorf Counters COVID Misinformation That Targets Pregnant Women
Primate Center core staff scientist, practicing OB/GYN and mom is leading the effort against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation around pregnancy
KING TV: UW doctor fights COVID misinformation targeting pregnant women
By Eric Wilkinson
SEATTLE — The internet is filled with websites spreading lies and misinformation about COVID-19. A quick Google search finds page after page of articles downplaying the effectiveness of
vaccines.
“They say the data shows COVID vaccines are a spectacular failure. In reality, it’s exactly the opposite,” said UW Medicine OB/GYN Dr. Kristina Adams Waldorf.
She sees the effects all the time with her patients.
“Like many, I’ve become tired of the misinformation and I find it’s really hard to battle this,” she said.
The breaking point for Adams Waldorf and her colleagues was last summer when 15 unvaccinated pregnant women in Mississippi alone died from COVID.
They knew they had to push back on the misinformation killing moms and their unborn babies.
“We now know that the COVID-19 disease increases a pregnant woman’s chances of dying 22 times and the vaccine is protective for this,” said Adams Waldorf. “That’s an incredibly important piece of information women need to know.”
Adams Waldorf launched a social media campaign called One Vax Two Lives and a website called onevaxtwolives.com. It’s dispelling many of the myths – like the vaccine is “experimental” and not safe for pregnant women or their fetuses.
According to Adams Waldorf, scientists have been studying mRNA vaccines for 20 or 30 years.
“We know so much about them it’s absolutely incorrect to say this is an experimental vaccine,” she said.
Some of the misinformation has a kernel of truth – like the fact that the vaccine alters a woman’s menstrual cycle.
“That’s actually true, but it’s true by only one day,” said the doctor. “So a 28-day menstrual cycle becomes a 29-day menstrual cycle, which is within the spectrum of normal, and it’s temporary.”
One thing Adams Waldorf said is very true about some of the misinformation sites is the profit motive. Many of the sites have direct links where readers can buy unproven and sometimes dangerous treatments. Continue reading…
WaNPRC Animal Program Fully Compliant with Federal Regulations
WaNPRC’s Deborah Fuller Speaks to The Conversation About the Future of Nucleic Acid Vaccines
How mRNA and DNA vaccines could soon treat cancers, HIV, autoimmune disorders and genetic diseases
The two most successful coronavirus vaccines developed in the U.S. – the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines – are both mRNA vaccines. The idea of using genetic material to produce an immune response has opened up a world of research and potential medical uses far out of reach of traditional vaccines. Deborah Fuller is a microbiologist at the University of Washington and Associate Director of Research for the Washington National Primate Research Center. She has been studying genetic vaccines for more than 20 years. The Conversation spoke to her about the future of mRNA vaccines for The Conversation Weekly podcast.
Dr. Michael Gale’s Lab: Studying the omicron variant of COVID-19
WaNPRC’s IDTM Core Staff Scientist addresses vaccine and antibody protection
KING TV: Seattle lab studies omicron variant of COVID-19
By Glenn Farley
Virus samples from Washington’s three positive omicron cases of COVID-19 are now in the hands of scientists in a super secure, Level 3 containment lab at UW Medicine’s complex of research centers in Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood.
“Do current antibodies from vaccination protect against omicron?” said Dr. Michael Gale about the upcoming experiments. Gale is the UW Medical School’s co-director for Emerging and Infectious Diseases, and Director for the Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease. His department also works with the National Institutes of Health. Continue reading…
Marking 10th Anniversary of Field Course with Mahasarakham University in Thailand
“We have managed to conduct this annual field course despite the pandemic – both last year and this year. And it was somewhat bittersweet, as this is the only field course (across all our program countries) that we will be able to conduct in 2021. Mahasarakham University also hosted a special seminar to celebrate the 10th anniversary of this field course. The past 20+ months have been a real challenge. Thank you to all the wonderful MSU students and staff.”
– Randall C. Kyes, PhD, Division of Global Programs
Dr. Deborah Fuller Addresses the Omicron Variant, Vaccines and Travel Bans
WaNPRC AD for Research speaks to media about new SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern
WaNPRC Announces Appointment of New Director
After a national search for a new center director, the WaNPRC has been awarded with the recruitment of an internationally recognized outside candidate. Effective October 16, 2021, Michele A. Basso, PhD, will join the WaNPRC as the new director.
Dr. Basso is already discussing plans for recruitment of new investigators and bringing in new core staff, particularly in the field of HIV and at the intersection of neuroscience and infectious disease.
Kyes Stresses Importance of Monitoring Wildlife and Human Interactions in Nepal
The Natural Resource Management Program at Nepal College of Engineering (NEC), in association with University of Washington, organized an August 20 webinar entitled, “Bush to Bench to Bedside: The Critical Role of Field Research in Biodiversity Conservation and Translational Science.”
The keynote speaker at the webinar, Professor Randall C. Kyes, said that long-term monitoring is very important to find out the status of biodiversity. He presented his research experience in different countries and emphasized on possible zoonotic diseases passing between humans and wildlife. Speaking about research on methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in monkeys of Kathmandu Valley. The Master of Sciences in Natural Resources Management program at the Center for Postgraduate Studies (CPS) is a collaborative partner for this research. Kyes said that evidence of human-to-human transmission of MRSA bacteria has been found in monkeys of Kathmandu Valley.
Warning of the potential dangers to wildlife from human and wildlife interactions, he said there is a need for ongoing research on wildlife and biodiversity. The webinar was attended by graduate students from various colleges. NEC CPS regularly organizes a series of webinars on various topics of biodiversity conservation and natural resource management.
- The above is a translation of an article from Nagarik News, a Nepali language daily newspaper and news network, Nepal Republic Media Pvt. Ltd.
- Dr. Randall C. Kyes is chief of the Division of Global Programs at the Washington National Primate Research Center.