The main goal of the project is an advanced development and optimization of Virus Like Particle Vectors technology as a generic platform for preventative biodefense vaccines against highly pathogenic arenaviruses.

TxBiomed is testing various filovirus vaccines in order to asses their effectiveness in preventing filovirus infection.

Increased serum uric acid or hyperuricemia is a risk factor for kidney and heart disease and gout. The uric acid transporter SLC2A9 regulates uric acid concentrations in blood by regulating uric acid reabsorption and secretion in kidneys. Alteration in the transporter activity can result in hyperuricemia thus increasing the risk for kidney disease gout and heart disease. Thus evaluating the complete variation in the SLC2A9 gene will help us gain better understanding of the mechanism in Mexican Americans as well as American Indians.

TxBiomed will communicate with the Strong Heart Study Steering Committee regarding CALiCo/PAGE administrative issues, actively participate in project and working group conference calls, data analysis and manuscript preparation and attend PAGE Steering Committee calls and in-person meetings.

TxBiomed is measuring the Cytokines in both Merocel Spear Eluates and Cervicovaginal Lavages in order to establish reasonable baselines across National Primate Centers.

Steadily decreasing rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) in the US threaten to be reversed because of rapid increases in obesity and diabetes. The proposed study will take advantage of the Strong Heart Study data in American Indians to further our understanding of CVD and its risk factors, especially diabetes and obesity, which will lead to more effective prevention and therapy and reduce the burden of CVD morbidity and mortality.

There is a continual need to explore alternative approaches to treat cancer to improve patient outcome and reduce the dreadful side-effects of some of the therapies available. While specific bacteria have shown a natural propensity to target tumors in animal models and have been engineered for drug delivery, targeting in human trials was essentially ineffective. To date, while antibody based targeting has been employed to deliver radio- or chemo- active compounds to destroy the tumor, it has so far not been fully explored to deliver bacteria.

The objective is to perform and report on human FV Challenge studies in NHP cohorts using an IM injection of approximately 1000 pfu/animal USG-designated, well-characterized human Filoviruses.

Artemisinin combination therapy (ACT) is the main treatment for Plasmodium falciparum malaria: the success of this treatment has rolled back malaria and renewed interest in malaria elimination. Slow clearance of parasites following ACT treatment of patients in SE Asia has lead to concern about the spread of resistance. This proposal aims to identify the genes that underlie slow clearance to better understand the evolution and biochemical basis of his trait.

Schistosomes are the most important of the helminth parasites that infect humans. Larval stages infect aquatic snails, so the transmission cycle can be broken by interfering with this stage in the parasite lifecycle. We will use genetic crosses of schistosomes in the laboratory to identify the parasite genes that underlie recognition of snail vectors and development of parasites within host snails.