Weill Medical College of Cornell University

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ENTERIC PATHOGENS:

Quarum Sensing Based Cholera Prophylactic. March, Golightly. In collaboration with Dr. John March of Bio-Engineering at Cornell University in Ithaca a novel cholera prophylactic is being developed. Cholera uses cell-to-cell signaling to coordinate its growth and virulence in the human gut. Strains of commensal bacteria that naturally reside in the gut are being engineered to express chemical signals used by cholera to abort the colonization process and allow the pathogen to pass through the G.I. system without causing symptoms. The prophylactic would be administered to those at risk of exposure to prevent the development of disease. Ultimate testing is planned in Haiti in collaboration with colleagues at Groupe Ha�tien d'Etude du Sarcome de Kaposi et des Infections Opportunistes (GHESKIO) in Port-au-Prince. The project is part of a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation

Multiplexed Detection of Food and Waterborne Pathogens. Barany, Golightly, Larone. The ability to rapidly detect food and waterborne pathogens is of utmost importance in preventing outbreaks associated with contamination of our nation�s food and water supply. Existing detection systems have a limited ability to simultaneously screen a single sample for multiple agents. To meet this need we will use the ligase detection reaction (LDR) combined with PCR, and Universal Array detection. The new technology is an extension of our prior development of assays for distinguishing blood-borne bacterial and viral pathogens. The new PCR/LDR assays will detect category B bacterial, viral, and protozoan food and water-borne pathogens in stool specimens. The assay will be validated using samples obtained from the NYPH/Cornell as well as collaborators in Haiti (GHESKIO) and Ghana (NMIMR).

• Das S, Pingle MR, Mu�oz-Jord�n J, Rundell MS, Rondini S, Granger K, Chang GJ, Kelly E, Spier EG, Larone D, Spitzer E, Barany F, Golightly LM. Detection and serotyping of dengue virus in serum samples by multiplex reverse transcriptase PCR-ligase detection reaction assay. J Clin Microbiol 2008;46:3276-84.
• Granger K, Rundell MS, Pingle M, Shatsky R, Larone DH, Golightly LM, Barany F, Spitzer E. Multiplex-PCR-LDR-CE assay for the simultaneous detection of drug resistance and toxin genes for Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococcus faecalis and Enterococcus faecium. J Clin Microbiol 2010;48(1):277-80.
• Pingle MR, Granger K, Feinberg P, Shatsky R, Sterling B, Rundell M, Spitzer E, Larone D, Golightly LM, Barany F. Multiplexed identification of blood-borne bacterial pathogens by use of a novel 16S rRNA gene PCR-ligase detection reaction-capillary electrophoresis assay. J Clin Microbiol 2007;45:1927-35.
• Pingle M, Rundell M, Das S, Golightly LM, Barany F. PCR/LDR/universal array platforms for the diagnosis of infectious disease. Methods Mol Biol 2010;632:141-57.
• Rondini S, Pingle MR, Das S, Tesh R, Rundell MS, Hom J, Stramer S, Turner K, Rossmann SN, Lanciotti R, Spier EG, Mu�oz-Jord�n J, Larone D, Spitzer E, Barany F, Golightly LM. Development of multiplex PCR-ligase detection reaction assay for detection of West Nile virus. J Clin Microbiol 2008;46:2269-79.