NEW YORK TIMES - “I think it’s absolutely fair to say that had it not been for Dr. Youngner, the polio vaccine would not have come into existence,” PETER SALK president of the Jonas Salk Legacy Foundation and a visiting professor at the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health, said in an e-mail. He added, “The really important thing to recognize is that the development of the polio vaccine at the University of Pittsburgh was a t...
IDM awarded departmental prizes in the 2017 Dean's Day student research competition to DANA WOELL of the MPH-PEL program in the MPH category, PRANALI RAVIKUMAR in the MS category, and DIANA DELUCIA in the PhD category.
IDM students and faculty were among the thousands to participate in March for Science events held on April, 22, 2017 in Oakland (adjacent to the Pitt campus) and in Washington, DC. These nonpartisan event sought to celebrate the role that science plays in our everyday lives.
TRIB LIVE - In the U.S., there have been 5,264 Zika cases reported, with the vast majority in travelers returning from affected areas in other countries, says ERNESTO MARQUES, associate professor with Pitt Public Health and scientific director of CURA ZIKA, an international alliance with counterparts in Brazil to help fundraising for research into the virus. Learn more about Cura Zika at www.publichealth.pitt.edu/curazika.
NEW YORK TIMES - Determining why one twin becomes infected in the womb while the other does not may illuminate how Zika crosses the placenta, how it enters the brain, and whether any genetic mutations make a fetus more resistant or susceptible to Zika infection. Perhaps the virus entered through a weak spot in one placenta’s membrane, said ERNESTO MARQUES, an infectious disease expert at Pitt Public Health and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in Recif...
Congratulations to NOAH SALAMA (IDM '17) on his recent acceptance into University of Rochester's 8-year MD/PhD program. As a Pitt MS student, Salama worked with Dr. Amy Hartman on research into viral immune response. His thesis was entitled "Analysis of Peripheral Immune Responses for the Development of an NHP Animal Model for Encephalitic Alphaviruses EEEV, VEEV, and WEEV."
A new study represents an important advance toward better treatments and even a cure. “The immune system stays activated, angry, upset and inflamed despite current treatments, and that’s not good,” said study leader JOHN MELLORS of infectious diseases and microbiology. The research, involving various research centers including the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, counters the idea “that inflammation and immune-cell activati...
NEW YORK TIMES - In the impoverished northeast, devoted parents live around the needs of children whose grave disabilities are only beginning to be understood. “These babies, most of them or all of them, they’re going to live very long lives, you can keep them alive a long time, and they will need assistance from someone 24 hours a day,” said ERNESTO MARQUES, an infectious disease expert at the University of Pittsburgh and the Oswaldo Cruz Founda...
INFECTIOUS DISEASE ADVISOR - Work of study co-author and IDM professor JOHN MELLORS reported that different clonal virus populations can be recovered from the two cell types. The findings suggest that inducible virus production may be a good marker of the latent infectious reservoir in both cell types. Identifying the sources of latent HIV and developing tools to measure improvements in therapies are essential for clinicians and their patients.
Congratulations to EMILY ROBBINS (IDM '16) on her new position with the Philadelphia Department of Public Health (PDPH). She will work as an epidemiology program associate in waterborne diseases with an initial primary focus on Legionella prevention within the community.