WRAIR News
Lasker~Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Science
Dr. Stanley Falkow, Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Stanford University, was awarded the Lasker-Koshland Special Achievement Award in Medical Sciences. After completion of his Ph.D. at Brown University, Dr. Falkow came to the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research within the Department of Bacterial Immunology where he was eventually named assistant chief. Since the 1960s, Dr. Falkow joined the Georgetown University School of Medicine and the University of Washington School of Medicine and ultimately moved to Medical Microbiology at Stanford. Throughout, Dr. Falkow's work has focused on molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis and the development of resistance to antimicrobials. For more information, see the video on the Lasker Foundation website: The Lasker Foundation - 2008 Special Achievement Award
Colonel D. Gray Heppner Named a U.S. Medicine Berry Award Finalist
The Deputy Commander of the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, Colonel D. Gray Heppner, has been named a U.S. Medicine Berry Award Finalist. His continuing research on and devotion to the development of a malaria vaccine led to this prestigious recognition. The winner of the Berry Prize for 2008 is Commander Lisa Pearse of the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology. Read the full article about Colonel Heppner in the current (August) issue of U.S. Medicine along with articles on the winner and other finalists: August 2008 issue of U.S. Medicine
Yellow Fever: 100 Years of Discovery
J. Erin Staples, MD, PhD;
Thomas P. Monath, MD
JAMA. 2008;300(8):960-962
Agramonte
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) is celebrating its 125th year of publication with free online publication of some of the classic JAMA articles that helped shape modern medicine. JAMA began publication in 1883 and has so far republished five classic JAMA articles with the latest being The Etiology of Yellow Fever (PDF 15.19 MB), published in 1901 by Walter Reed, James Carroll, and Aristides Agramonte. This published study was a seminal work delineating the etiology of yellow fever. Jesse W. Lazear, one of the original four investigators, died on 26 September 1900 at age 34 from yellow fever in Cuba after allowing himself to be bitten by infected mosquitoes.
In the 2008;300(8) issue of JAMA, J. Erin Staples, MD, PhD, and Thomas P. Monath, MD provide a detailed commentary titled Yellow Fever: 100 Years of Discovery which describes yellow fever passage from Africa to the Americas, the dispatching, by Surgeon General George Sternberg, of Walter Reed, Aristides Agramonte, James Carroll, and Jesse Lazear to Cuba to investigate the cause of yellow fever, the work of General William Gorgas to eliminate yellow fever from Havana and Panama, the isolation of the virus by Adrian Stokes in 1927, and the development of a vaccine by Max Theiler. Staples and Monath conclude by stating there is still much work to be done combating yellow fever, learning how to manage the disease, and with reducing the incidence of serious side effects from the 17D yellow fever vaccine.
Former WRAIR Researcher Appointed to New Post
Department of Global Health
College of Public Health
University of South Florida Health
Dr. Kyle served in the U.S. Army for 21 years with most of that time at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR). During his time at WRAIR, he held positions as Chief, Malaria Research Laboratory, Chief, Antiparasitic Drug Discovery, Chief, Department of Parasitology, and as Deputy Director (Antimalarial Drug Discovery), Division of Experimental Therapeutics. Dr. Kyle received his B.A. from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, his Ph.D. from Clemson University and completed a postdoctoral position at the University of Georgia.
Dr. Kyle has authored over 130 publications in peer-reviewed journals, has 6 patents, and was named the 2006 Scientist of the Year by Malaria Foundation International. Dr. Kyle also serves in several capacities for the World Health Organization Program for Tropical Diseases Research, to include Chair of the Steering Committee on Genomics and Drug Resistance, Chair for the Compound Evaluation Network, and a coordinator for the WHO/TDR Network for Transfection Technology for Drug Screening and Immunological Studies in Tropical Parasitic Diseases.
A current research focus in the Kyle lab is determining how the malaria parasite evades the action of artemisinin drugs and the discovery of new compounds for the treatment of malaria, leishmaniasis, and primary amoebic meningoencephalitis.
WRAIR Researcher Discusses Her Experience With A Comprehensive International HIV Research Program
experience with PEPFAR
Dr. Tiffany E. Hamm serves as the Chief, Department of International HIV Prevention, Care, and Treatment for the Division of Retrovirology, Walter Reed Army Institute for Research (WRAIR)/U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP). The USMHRP is a multi-dimensional project dedicated to HIV vaccine development, prevention, disease surveillance, and care and treatment for HIV.
In 2003, Dr. Hamm's role expanded when, during the State of the Union Address, President Bush launched the U.S. President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) to combat global HIV/AIDS - the largest commitment, $15 billion over five years (2003-2008), by any nation to combat a single disease in history. Dr. Tiffany E. Hamm now serves as the primary U.S. Government representative for the Department of the Army to PEPFAR under the Office of the Global AIDS Coordinator (OGAC). She also serves on several multi-agency groups including OGAC support teams for the countries of Kenya, Nigeria and Tanzania and the palliative technical working group.
On July 30, 2008, President Bush reauthorized the program by signing in the United States Global Leadership Against HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria Reauthorization Act which will dramatically increase the financial commitment to this fight - authorizing up to $48 billion to combat global HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis, and malaria. Resource-limited countries with high HIV/AIDS prevalence rates receive the highest priority for PEPFAR assistance. Those 15 "focus countries" include Botswana, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tanzania, Uganda, Vietnam, and Zambia.
Closing Ceremonies for Science Education Programs
Closing ceremonies for science education programs at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) were held Friday, 15 Aug 08! To encourage students to pursue and develop interests in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) careers, the WRAIR has several programs for area students to participate in hands-on science with mentors in a laboratory setting. The Gains in the Education of Math and Science (GEMS) program for 13-18 year olds, Science and Engineering Apprenticeship Program (SEAP) for high school students, and College Qualified Leaders (CQL) for undergraduate and graduate students offer experience in neuroscience, molecular biology, chemistry, pharmacology, toxicology, physiology, bioengineering, immunology, and biopsychology to name a few. The programs establish a strong bond between younger students and mentors, whether these mentors are older students during their STEM training years (called near-peer mentors) or scientists and engineers.
While the CQL program continues throughout the year, GEMS and SEAP are completing their sessions for 2008. Funding for these innovative programs is provided by the research budgets of mentoring scientists and through the U.S. Army Educational Outreach Program (www.usaeop.com). Additional STEM outreach efforts and early programmatic funding for the GEMS program was received from the Science Education Partnership Awards program of the National Center for Research Resources, the National Institutes of Health.
WRAIR Researchers Produce Seminal Book on Blast-Related Injuries
Colonel (ret.)
Blast-Related Injuries
400 pages Academic Press;
1st edition (June 6, 2008)
ISBN 978-0-12-369514-7
Hardcover
Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) researcher Dr. James L. Atkins Colonel (ret.) and two former WRAIR researchers, Dr. Nabil Elsayed and Dr. Nikolai V. Gorbunov, are editors and contributors to a timely book by international experts on the mechanics and treatment of blast related injuries.
Continue....WRAIR Salutes Dr. Michael Ellis DeBakey
On 11 July 2008, Dr. Michael E. DeBakey, perhaps the greatest surgeon of the 20th Century, died at The Methodist Hospital in Houston from natural causes at age 99. Dr. DeBakey was born in 1908 as Michel Dabaghi, the son of Lebanese immigrants whose early interest in medicine was fueled by listening to physicians chatting at his father's pharmacy in Lake Charles, La.
While a medical student at Tulane University School of Medicine in 1932, he invented the roller pump, which later became an essential component of the heart-lung machine, and began the era of open-heart surgery. From there he never looked back having helped create more than 70 surgical instruments over his lifetime. Even though he had a thriving career as a surgeon and professor at Tulane, Dr. DeBakey volunteered for service in World War II, serving from 1942 to 1946 as a member of the Surgical Consultants' Division in the Office of the Surgeon General of the Army. In 1945 he became its Director and received the Legion of Merit. During that time, he designed the mobile army surgical hospital (M.A.S.H.) unit which allowed experienced medical personnel quick access to the wounded and has saved thousands of lives in subsequent U.S. wars. He also helped establish the Veteran's Administration Medical Center Research System and was a driving force behind the establishment of the National Library of Medicine. Continue
WRAIR Researchers Successful in Developing New Technology for the Warfighter
In 1999, WRAIR was challenged to find a Fatigue Solution when more troops died in the Gulf war from fatigue than from enemy fire. After 8 years of development, and clinical efficacy and safety testing, it was determined that a specially formulated, climate-proof caffeine delivery system was effective and safe for reducing fatigues effects on alertness, cognition [thinking], marksmanship, and physical performance.
Researchers first determined that this delivery system worked faster than any other delivery system if it began absorbing into the body through the mouth. Thereafter, a chewing gum was chosen to deliver the Fatigue Solution which provided caffeine to the body 5 times faster than pills or drinks. The new gum, Stay Alert, has been chosen for inclusion with the First Strike Rations (FSR TM). FSR TM are designed for First Responders and provide a compact, eat-on-the-move assault ration designed for use during initial periods of highly intense, highly mobile combat operations. The FSR TM is substantially reduced in weight and cube and enhances Warfighter consumption, nutritional intake, and mobility.
WRAIR looks forward to providing more safety to all troops with its Fatigue Solution, Stay Alert caffeine chewing delivery system, and understands there are currently efforts underway to make it available in exchanges and commissaries on Military Bases globally.
Antibiotic Resistance: A Growing Problem
Staphylococcus aureus
demonstrate broad-spectrum
antibiotic properties have
been found in the skin of
the Australian Bell Frog.
Dr. Irach B. Taraporewala, Senior Consultant in Drug Development, at Paraxel Consulting in White Plain, NY has recently written an update on the medical, legislative, and legal implications of the growing problem of antibiotic-resistant bacterial pathogens worldwide in the Food and Drug Law Institute's April/May 2008 Update magazine titled The Growing Problem of Antibiotic Resistance: Medical, Legislative and Legal Implications.
Besides the over-prescription of antibiotics by physicians, another factor in the development of antibiotic resistance to pathogenic bacteria is the use of antibiotics as additives to help promote growth in poultry, hogs and cattle. Approximately 70 percent of the antibiotic usage in the United States is for this purpose.
Dr. Taraporewala discusses legislation addressing the growing problem of antibiotic resistance that has been passed in the European Union and similar legislation pending in the United States which includes the Preservation of Antibiotics for Medical Treatment Act of 2007 and the Strategies to address Antimicrobial Resistance Act of 2007. Dr. Taraporewala credits the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research with the development of "a novel peptide" that is very effective against resistant microbial strains and is chemically unrelated to any other class of antibiotics currently in use (see: JB Bhonsle, D Venugopal, DP Huddler, AJ Magill, RP Application of 3D-QSAR for identification of descriptors defining bioactivity of antimicrobial peptides J Med Chem (2007)). Antimicrobial peptides have evolved in almost every class of living organism as a host defense against invading micro-organisms.
Featured Researcher
Mary Marovich, M.D., DTM&H
Dr. Mary Marovich, a researcher with the U.S. Military HIV Research Program (USMHRP) for the past seven years, has special research interests that include the development and testing of new vaccines in various stages of clinical development. She received her M.D degree from Loyola University of Chicago in 1990 and her DTMH from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK in 1993.
Dr. Marovich's research interests include the development of assays and testing strategies for the evaluation of new vaccines in various stages of clinical development for USMHRP. She is responsible for the study design and oversight of QC testing on vaccine products currently tested and those submitted the future. Dr. Marovich's expertise is in antigen presentation and dendritic cell targeting for vaccine development and the design of new in vitro assays to bridge the bench to the clinic.
The U.S. Military HIV Research Program's (USMHRP) main research focus is to develop an vaccine against HIV which poses a significant and persistent threat to the U.S. military and allied forces. USMHRP has a close partnership with the not-for-profit Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of Military Medicine (HJF). Together they support research activities in Thailand, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Peru, Cairo, Indonesia, Nigeria and other international locations.
Dr. Marovich discusses the rational for developing a pox virus vector based HIV vaccine.
Artesunate for the Treatment of Severe Falciparum Malaria
Philip J. Rosenthal, M.D.
In the 24 April 2008 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine, Dr. Philip J. Rosenthal, from the Department of Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, outlines the current treatment protocol in the United States for severe malaria due to the Plasmodium falciparum parasite (free online PDF). Malaria, an ancient, malicious disease, is contracted by over 500 million individuals each year, killing an estimated 1 to 3 million of them. Children and pregnant women are especially susceptible to the progression to severe malaria when uncomplicated malaria is not diagnosed and treated promptly.
Over 1000 cases of malaria are treated in America, primarily in travelers returning form travel to malaria infested areas. Of those cases, 5 to 10 percent progress to meet the criteria for severe malaria with a fatality rate of approximately 1.3%.
The current the standard of care for severe malaria in the United States is intravenous quinidine. Dr. Rosenthal reviews the literature on the use of artemisinin-based combination therapies as a promising new treatment for malaria, and especially the use of intravenous artesunate to replace quinidine therapy. Artemisinin-based combination therapies have been approved for use in uncomplicated and severe malaria by the World Health Organization with relatively low rates of side effects and an increased rate of clinical efficiency. Intravenous artesunate currently being used by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States is provided at no charge by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. The use of artemisinins in the treatment of malaria in the United States was largely pioneered by researchers at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and detailed in their recently published book Artemisinins in Malaria Therapy.
U.S. Meeting Highlights On-going Support for TPDF HIV/AIDS Programs
Edward Sekonde bidding farewell to
Col. Denis Janga at the U.S. Embassy
in Dar es Salaam.
The Tanzania People's Defense Forces (TPDF) sent a three-member delegation to the U.S. April 17-18, 2008, for a meeting hosted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research's (WRAIR) U.S. Military HIV Research Program. The American people, through the President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR) initiative and the Walter Reed Program/U.S. Military HIV Research Program, have been supporting both military and civilian counterpart organizations in Tanzania to fight AIDS for the last four years. By the end of this fiscal year, the American people will have provided over $817 million to Tanzania towards combating HIV/AIDS. This assistance is part of overall U.S. Government direct and multilateral assistance to Tanzania of more than 750 billion Tanzanian shillings.
Read the entire press release....Dr. Tracy Rupp wins the National Sleep Foundation Young Investigator Award
Dr. Tracy Rupp has won the National Sleep Foundation Young Investigator Award. The competition for this award was daunting. A total of 106 abstracts from young sleep researchers (i.e., within 5 years of having obtained the doctoral degree) were submitted to the National Sleep Foundation (NSF). Each submission was rated by a team of 3 established sleep researchers. From among these abstracts, the top 16 were chosen (8 "clinical research" abstracts and 8 "basic research" abstracts) and the authors received an all-expenses-paid trip to the Young Investigators Conference (held last Sunday) by the National Sleep Foundation in Washington, DC, where the investigators made oral presentations to a panel of experts and an audience. Based on a variety of criteria ranging from 'scientific impact' to 'presentation style', the panel selected a "winner" and a "runner up" from each category (basic and clinical). Dr. Rupp's winning entry was entitled "Sleep Extension Improves Performance and Facilitates Task Acquisition During and Following 7 Nights of Subsequent Sleep Restriction". In this work, Dr. Rupp showed that, contrary to current thinking, the recuperative value of extended sleep is "banked" until needed during subsequent sleep restriction. Read more.
WRAIR Researchers Play Key Role in New Drug to Treat Toxoplasmosis
   
|
| Dr. Craig Canfield, Dr. Dennis Kyle, Lucia Gerena and Dr. Wil Milhous |
The pro-drug concept for anti-malarial compound JPC-2056 was developed in the late 1980's by teams of researchers led by WRAIR's Craig Canfield, Wilbur Milhous, Dennis Kyle, Lucia Genera and David Jacobus of the Jacobus Pharmaceutical Company. After an intensive lead optimization process using a WRAIR Integrated Product Team, the final malaria candidate was selected in 2006 based on metabolic stability by CPT Todd Shearer (now at GSK). JPC-2056 has been shown to be 10 times more effective than the current gold standard for the treatment of Toxoplasma gondii and with a very low toxicity profile.
- Newly developed anti-malarial medicine treats toxoplasmosis (04-Mar-2008 - University of Chicago news release).
- Novel Triazine JPC-2067-B Inhibits Toxoplasma gondii In Vitro and In Vivo (Feb-2008 - PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases). Full text free online.
Malaria: The End of the Beginning
The highly regarded international science journal Nature has just released its 27 February 2008 issue with the battle against malaria as its
cover story. The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research has a decades long history of involvement with the struggle against this deadly
disease estimated to infect over 500 million people worldwide each year resulting in over 1 million deaths.
Read Full Article (Subscription Only)
Nature Malaria Special Commentary
Artemisinins in Malaria Therapy
Artemisinin is a chemical compound derived from the shrub Artemisia annua which has a history of use in traditional Chinese medicine dating back to at least 200 B.C. Artemisinin and its derivatives are now being used to treat malaria and has recently been shown to exhibit antiviral and anticancer properties. The three authors are researchers with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research specializing in the treatment of malaria. Read more.
Army Study Links Brain Injury and PTSD
Jan. 30: Among U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq, 44 percent of those who lost consciousness are now suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. NBC's Robert Bazell reports. View Video.
Mild Traumatic Brain Injury in U.S. Soldiers Returning from Iraq
This New England Journal of Medicine article, from Colonel Charles Hoge and colleagues at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research, is the first
published study to address the problem of concussion (mild traumatic brain injury) among Soldiers returning from Iraq.
Read Full Article
Questions and Answers for Soldiers and their Families Regarding Mild Traumatic Brain Injury
WRAIR at Forefront of Blast Neurotrauma Research
Multiple sources of epidemiological data show that explosive blast is the most frequent cause of brain injury in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF). The unique presentation of blast-induced brain injury was clearly evident to military critical care specialists, neurologists, and neurological surgeons. Read Full Article.