The Collaborative Research Board (CRB) represents individual scientists who have agreed to conduct research on behalf of Immugen. These are outstanding senior scientists with a proven track record in clinical research. The areas of research we have identified are varied, but for the most part, should lead to proof-of-concept in the areas of immune response to infectious disease, in particular HIV and influenza.
As certain funding thresholds are achieved, other research projects will be addressed which will lead to the clinical use of the drug for the treatment or prevention of disease. Among these research areas are:
Atherosclerosis prevention
Inflammatory bowel diseases
Autoimmune diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and multiple sclerosis
Prevention of allograft rejection - Host vs. graft and graft vs. host
Cancer
Jiri Mestecky, M.D., Ph.D.
Miles Cloyd, Ph.D.
Preston Marx, Ph.D.
Sten Vermund, M.D., Ph.D.
Jiri Mestecky (b. 1941), Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Medicine, graduated from the School of Medicine, Charles University in Prague, Czechoslovakia in 1964. Postdoctoral studies were then performed at the Czechoslovak Academy of Sciences, Prague in the Department of Immunology headed by Professor J. Sterzl, and at UAB with Professor F.W. Kraus. A sabbatical was spent in 1976 at Rockefeller University, New York, in the laboratory of Professor H.G. Kunkel. Dr. Mestecky has served as a member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Immunology, Immunochemistry (Molecular Immunology), Infection and Immunity, Journal of Clinical Immunology, Oral Microbiology and Immunology, and International Archives of Allergy and Immunology. Outside interest include classical music and traveling.
Dr. Cloyd's research focuses on understanding the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of HIV and retroviruses that cause leukemia. His current work explores host genetic resistance to HIV, how HIV causes AIDS and shuts down into latency, and how MCF murine leukemia viruses cause transformation. His studies of the molecular mechanisms of the transformation by murine leukemia viruses examine the effects of retroviral infection and gene products on membrane-mediated signal transduction processes and mechanisms of activation of host genes. His HIV studies are aimed at identifying and characterizing host genetic resistance/susceptibility genes influencing HIV infection, molecular mechanisms of HIV latency, functional properties of latently infected normal CD4 lymphocytes, functions of and interplay between HIV genes and gene products in determining viral biological properties, the mechanism by which HIV causes depletion of CD4 lymphocytes, and development of new diagnostics for HIV.
Dr. Preston A. Marx is a career virologist with over 25 years of experience in academic and research settings. He has published more than 190 research articles, 170 of which are on AIDS and HIV (Human immunodeficiency virus). He is professor of Tropical Medicine at Tulane University Health Sciences Center in New Orleans and the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Medical Primatology. His research is focused on AIDS, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and simian models of AIDS. He gives lectures on the origin of HIV in Africa and HIV vaccines to scientists, health professionals and general audiences. On occasion, he provides consultation and advice on virology, AIDS vaccine development and anti-viral drug development.
Dr. Vermund's research interests lie in infectious disease control and prevention with a focus on developing countries and underserved areas of the southeastern U.S. Dr. Vermund's current (2007) funded grants include projects in Mozambique (PEPFAR-HIV care and treatment in Zambezia Province, via CDC), Zambia HIV/AIDS/STD/TB-related training (AITRP, via Fogarty/NIH), Pakistan/Bangladesh/India (HIV risk reduction in adolescent drug users, cervical cancer screening among HIV-infected women, HIV/AIDS/STD/TB-related training), and China (HIV/AIDS/STD/TB-related training, HIV/AIDS epidemic modeling, HIV incidence surveillance and BED-CEIA validation). He also has strong ties in Peru (clinical tropical medicine), Jamaica (public health training), Jordan (pediatric respiratory disease surveillance), and Costa Rica (ethics training). Dr. Vermund works closely with the Vanderbilt-Meharry Center for AIDS Research, the V.U. Program in Medicine, Society, and Health, the Center for Epidemiology, and the Institute for Medicine and Public Health. He serves PI of a Family Health International (Research Triangle Park, NC)-Vanderbilt grant for the HIV Prevention Trials Network Leadership Group sponsored by the NIAID and collaborating NIH institutes. Dr. Vermund also spearheads the Vanderbilt-Merharry Global Framework Program to develop global health training and curricular content throughout the curricula of both institutions.
