Medical Student Research Fellowship for Summer 2006

Mentor: Donald Sodora
Department: Internal Medicine
Room number: Y9.206
Mail Code: 9114
Phone number: 8-2438
E-mail: Donald.Sodora@UTSouthwestern.edu
Project title: Utilizing the monkey model to assess HIV pathogenesis

Human subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable):

Animal subjects IRB approved project number (where applicable): APN#: 0824-05-06-1

Project Type (patient-based research, animal-based research, or basic research; this characterization is only to permit a general classification for grouping similar types of projects)
Basic research only, the animals are not located on this campus.

Brief Description of Project:

Project will involve a functional analysis of the immune cells present in simian immunodefiency virus (SIV) infected monkeys. It is interesting that one monkey species progresses to clinical AIDS while a second does not exhibit any clinical signs, remaining disease free till old age. My laboratory is interested in unraveling the mystery of how these monkeys can have high levels of SIV replication yet not progress to AIDS. Techniques to be utilized include flow cytometry and in situ immunohistochemistry.

Previous Research Activities or Publications with Medical Students:

Milush, J.M., D. Kosub, M. Marthas, K. Schmidt, F. Scott, A. Wozniakowski, C. Brown, S. Westmoreland, and D.L. Sodora. 2004. HIV Transmission Model Reveals Rapid Dissemination of SIV Following Oral Inoculation. AIDS, 18:2371-2380.
Cervasi, B., M. Paiardini, H. Albrecht, A. Muthukumar, R. Dunham, S. Gordon, H. Radziewicz, G. Piedimonte, M. Magnani, M. Montroni, S. Kaech, A. Weintrob, J.D. Altman, , D.L. Sodora, M.B. Feinberg, and G. Silvestri. 2005. Loss of CD127 defines an expansion of effector CD8+ T cells in HIV-infected individuals. Journal of Immunology, 174:2900-9
Muthukumar, A., D. Zhou, M. Paiardini, A.P. Barry, K.S. Cole, H.M. McClure, S.I. Staprans, G. Silvestri, and D.L. Sodora. 2005. Timely triggering of homeostatic mechanisms involved in the regulation of T cell levels in SIVsm infected sooty mangabeys. Blood, Dec 1; 106(12):3839-45.

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