Re: Alan Barbour internationally known as co-discoverer of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
- From: Ilena Rose <ilena.rose@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 04 Aug 2005 14:47:20 -0600
Could you help me understand Barbour's role in this whole Lyme Disease
Debacle?
Thanks so much ...
{putting the pieces together ...}
www.BreastImplantAwareness.org
On 4 Aug 2005 12:40:29 -0700, "CaliforniaLyme" <CaliforniaLyme@xxxxxx>
wrote:
>Alan Barbour internationally known as co-discoverer of the bacterium
>that causes Lyme disease. Alan Barbour internationally known as
>co-discoverer of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
>WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT THE ()!*&@^!$######!
>(((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((((
> UCSB Awarded $1.5 Million for Biodefense and Infectious Disease
>Study
>
>August 4, 2005
>
>(Santa Barbara, Calif.) - Research for countering threats from
>bioterrorism agents and infectious diseases will be conducted at the
>University of California, Santa Barbara, funded by a $1.5 million grant
>over four years by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious
>Diseases of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
>
>UCSB microbiologist Peggy Cotter has been selected as a project
>director in the newly established Pacific-Southwest Regional Center of
>Excellence (RCE) for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Disease
>Research-one of only ten NIH-funded centers in the nation dedicated
>to research aimed at countering bioterrorism and emerging infectious
>diseases.
>
>"Our goal," said Cotter, "is to gain a fundamental understanding of how
>certain bacteria cause disease, and then to use that knowledge to
>identify potential vaccine components and targets for new antibiotics
>and therapeutic drugs."
>
>Some of the funds will be used to construct a state-of-the-art, high
>security, biosafety laboratory at UCSB in which the work will be
>conducted.
>
>The Pacific-Southwest RCE was established with a $40 million grant
>awarded to UC Irvine. The Center is directed by Alan Barbour, M.D, an
>infectious disease expert at UC Irvine, who is internationally known as
>co-discoverer of the bacterium that causes Lyme disease.
>
>The Center is a consortium of 16 universities and research institutes
>in California, Arizona, Nevada, and Hawaii. "Its mission," said
>Barbour, "is to bolster basic biomedical research into bioterrorism
>agents, such as those that cause anthrax and botulism, and naturally
>occurring infectious diseases, including West Nile virus, hantavirus
>and dengue-diseases that are affecting increasing numbers of people
>worldwide. The Center also will provide scientific support, expertise
>and facilities in response to a national emergency, such as a terrorist
>attack or an epidemic of a new infectious disease, like the SARS
>virus."
>
>Cotter, assistant professor of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental
>Biology at UCSB, will serve as director of "Project 4," one of six
>research projects within the Pacific-Southwest RCE. In addition to
>Cotter, Project 4 investigators include David A. Low, professor and
>vice-chair of Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology at UCSB;
>Jeffery F. Miller, professor and M. Philip Davis Chair of Microbiology,
>Immunology and Molecular Genetics at UCLA; Paul Keim, Regents'
>Professor and Cowden Chair of Microbiology at Northern Arizona
>University; and Thomas Kozel, professor and chair of Microbiology and
>Immunology at the University of Nevada, Reno.
>
>These investigators will apply their extensive combined experience
>studying bacterial and fungal pathogens. These pathogens include
>Bordetella pertussis (which causes whooping cough), uropathogenic
>Escherichia coli (which causes urinary tract infections and kidney
>disease), Listeria monocytogenes (which causes gastroenteritis in
>healthy people but is a life-threatening disease in immunocompromised
>individuals, pregnant women and infants), and Cryptococcus neoformans
>(which causes meningitis and systemic illness in immunocompromised
>individuals).
>
>The researchers will seek to understand the basic pathogenic mechanisms
>used by newly emerging pathogens and bioterrorism agents. "Our team
>will investigate how a potential bioterrorism agent causes pneumonia
>and septicemia," said Cotter. "We will focus on understanding how this
>bacterium first makes contact with human tissues. Bacterial proteins
>that mediate this initial interaction typically make good vaccine
>components because if you can block that initial interaction, you can
>prevent the infection from getting established in the first place."
>
>Both Cotter and Low have extensive experience studying these kinds of
>proteins, called adhesins, in other bacteria. Cotter has been studying
>members of the Bordetella genus (including B. pertussis) since 1992.
>She showed that an adhesin called filamentous hemagglutinin (FHA) is
>absolutely required for these bacteria to infect the lower respiratory
>tract. Recent work in her laboratory indicates that FHA plays critical
>roles in determining host specificity and the severity of the disease
>that develops.
>
>Low has been studying adhesins in a variety of bacterial pathogens for
>over 20 years, with much of it focused on uropathogenic E. coli (called
>UPEC). He has made several seminal contributions to understanding the
>regulation of a special class of adhesins called Pap pili. Pap stands
>for pyelonephritis-associated pili, and, as their name suggests, these
>adhesins play an essential role in allowing UPEC to travel to the
>kidneys where they cause infection.
>
>"The large genome of the bacterium that we will be studying as part of
>the RCE has been sequenced and we have already identified genes with
>the potential to encode pili and an FHA-like protein," said Cotter. "We
>are anxious to see if they behave like the adhesins that we have been
>studying in Bordetella and UPEC. If so, we will immediately begin
>experiments to see if they can induce protective immunity and work with
>other researchers in the RCE to facilitate vaccine development."
>
>Other Regional Centers of Excellence for Biodefense and Emerging
>Infectious Diseases are based in Colorado, Washington, Texas, New York,
>Massachusetts, Illinois, Missouri, Maryland and North Carolina.
>
>
>###
>
>(3)
.
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