Boston University Appoints Biologist to Research Post at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories
For Release Upon Receipt – October 24, 2007
Contact: David Goldberg, 617-638-8491, david.goldberg@bmc.org
Kira Jastive, 617-358-1240, kjastive@bu.edu
(Boston) – Boston University today announced the appointment of Horácio Frydman as an investigator at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) currently under construction on the university’s medical campus. Dr. Frydman, a molecular biologist, has also been appointed to the faculty of Boston University as an assistant professor of biology. His research focuses on Wolbachia bacteria which grow in parasitic worms known as nematodes (roundworms) and also grow inside the cells of many insects.
“Over one third of all humans, mainly in developing countries, carry a nematode infection,” said Frydman. “Parasitic worms can cause chronic debilitating infections that are often difficult to treat, such as elephantiasis and river blindness. Despite the high cost to human health, there have been limited treatments available for these diseases. However, recent, remarkable clinical research indicates that a simple antibiotic that kills the Wolbachia bacteria inside the parasite leads to long lasting eradication of the parasitic infection in the human host.”
Wolbachia is considered among the most abundant intracellular bacteria on earth, infecting up to 70% of insects, including fruit flies and mosquitoes. Frydman’s research has shown that when injected into an uninfected fruit fly host, Wolbachia targets the stem cell niche region of the ovary, from where it can then directly infect flies generation after generation.
As an investigator at the NEIDL, Frydman will be responsible for developing an independent research program to study how Wolbachia infects mosquitoes – vectors responsible for the transmission of many human pathogens, such as Eastern Equine Encephalitis (EEE). Further investigation of such transmission routes could lead to information about the evolution, ecology and biology of this host-bacterial interaction, as well as possible biological strategies for controlling vector transmitted infectious diseases.
“Dr. Frydman is one of the few scientists studying ways to interrupt vectorborne disease transmission,” said Mark Klempner, M.D. director of the NEIDL and associate provost for research of Boston University’s Medical Campus. “He made an important discovery that Wolbachia has a symbiotic relationship with embryonic stem cells in fruit flies. This means that all the cells that turn into the whole fly have had contact with the bacteria since they all come from those stem cells. Scientists believe the same thing happens in mosquitoes and ticks. Dr. Frydman’s work has important implications for potential ways to make these vectors incapable of transmitting infectious diseases by biologically manipulating this relationship.”
Frydman joined BU in September from Princeton University where he was a research scholar in the Department of Molecular Biology. He was previously a research associate at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Frydman holds a Ph.D. in Genetics and Developmental Biology from Johns Hopkins University and obtained a B.S. and M.Sc. from the University of São Paulo in Brazil.
The NEIDL is part of a national network of secure facilities that study infectious diseases -whether they occur naturally or are introduced through bioterrorism. The mission of the NEIDL is to establish a research facility with the highest attention to community and laboratory safety and security to perform cutting-edge research and develop diagnostic tests, treatments and vaccines to promote public health through combating infectious diseases.
Founded in 1839, Boston University is an internationally recognized institution of higher education and research. With more than 30,000 students, it is the fourth largest independent university in the United States. Boston University contains 17 colleges and schools along with a number of multi-disciplinary centers and institutes which are central to the school’s research and teaching mission.
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