USF Center for Biodefense

USF Center for Biodefense - (Project period 4/1/04 - 6/30/08)

The NFGC founding proposal states we will establish collaborations with other centers, and support the vision of Congress and the Department of Defense to work together towards the effective treatment and prevention of cancer, producing benefits directly applicable to the military and homeland security. The NFGC established a collaborative effort with the ongoing research at the Center for Biological Defense and worked closely with them to support their genomics research needs. The NFGC provided funds to support this effort. These funds supported access to the NFGC’s microarray and proteomics core facilities.

The funds were used in two projects with the following aims:

1. To identify unique strain-specific targets for food pathogen and potential bioterror agent detection. The proteomics core will be utilized to compare total protein expression between pairs of difficult to differentiate bacterial strains. Sequence analysis of unilaterally expressed proteins will lead to identification of target genes for use in multiplex RT-PCR and gene microarray differentiation of the organisms of interest.
2. To simultaneously detect multiple organisms, strains, and virulence factors by using gene microarray chips. Two custom microarray chips will be constructed, one for the detection of food pathogens and another for the detection of Bacillus sub-species using established and novel gene.

KEY RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS:

• Designed a dedicated Ultraviolet Irradiator (UVI) (Versions 1, 2, and 3) which killed all colony forming units (CFUs)
• Found a significant difference in growth between the pandemic and nonpandemic strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus at 12°C.
• One set of protein extracts from cultures of pandemic and nonpandemic strains of Vibrio parahaemolyticus grown at 30°C were analyzed by the Proteomics Core Facility and fifty proteins differed between the two strains.
• A total of 780 proteins were identified as being expressed in one strain of Vibrio parahaemolyticus and not in the other at 12°C, after deleting any differences also seen at 30°C. Only three of these proteins, DnaA, DnaJ-related and DnaK-related, are involved in (or thought to be involved in) cold stress. DnaA was expressed in the nonpandemic strain and not in the pandemic strain, while the reverse is true for the DnaJ-related and DnaK-related proteins.
  
  
  This project is continuing at the Center for Biodefense with alternative funding sources.

Page edited 5/7/2010