Schistosome parasites vary in biomedically important traits including virulence, host specificity, and resistance to drug treatment. We aim to develop efficient, economical methods for genetic mapping in S. mansoni that are applicable to a wide range of biomedically important traits.

The mission of the TxBiomed component is to generate the Marburg virus and propagate it, determine the virus' consensus sequence, experimentally determine the LD50 of guinea pig adapted Angolan Marburg virus, and evaluate the immunogenicity and efficacy of Marburg and Ebola Zaire VLPs monovalent vaccines when administered in two different adjuvants to guinea pigs and Non-Human Primates.

STDs and unwanted pregnancy create tremendous burdens on individuals, on U.S. society, and on the national health care costs. The work in this project will provide new approaches for preventing and treating STDs and preventing unwanted pregnancy. Specifically, we will test a new approach for treatment of HIV/AIDS infections. The approach will emphasize materials and approaches that can be translated into clinical products, which would provide new opportunities for enhancing health.

This study proposes to investigate the prospective association and determinants of Telomere attrition and Diabetes Risk in American Indians using an existing, well-defined, longitudinal cohort, the Strong Heart Family Study. Results will provide valuable data regarding biological Aging and Diabetes in American Indians and other ethnic groups as well.

Gene copy number variation (CNV) is ubiquitous in eukaryotic genomes and the resultant dosage changes can play an important role in determining phenotype. We aim to define the extent, evolutionary dynamics and functionality of CNV in the malaria parasite genome (Plasmodium falciparum). To achieve this we will use comparative genomic hybridization (cGH) which provides an efficient tool for assaying both CNV and single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and is particularly effective in haploid genomes.

TxBiomed will furnish the necessary services, qualified personnel, material, equipment and facilities to perform vaccine testing using the MVA-BN-Marv vaccine against 3 viruses.

TxBiomed will direct the Strong Heart Study component of the Genetic Epidemiology of Causal Variants Across the Life Course consortium. Dr. Cole will select variants to be investigated further.

TxBiomed will provide marmosets, animal technicians and listening equipment in order to correlate Age and sex with the sounds a Marmoset primate makes.

The long-term goal of the Strong Heart Family Study is to detect, map, and identify polymorphic genes that influence variation in risk factors for cardiovascular disease (CVD) and other related disorders that are major health problems in American Indians.