Dr. Harry A Dailey
Academic Director

Contact:
Biomedical and Health Sciences Institute
150B Coverdell Center
Athens, GA 30602
hdailey@uga.edu
Phone: 706-542-2690
Curriculum Vitae

Education:
BA, UCLA (1972)
PhD, UCLA (1976)
American Heart Association Postdoctoral Fellow, University of Connecticut Health Center

Research:  There are two major long-range goals for my laboratory's research. The first is to characterize at the biochemical and molecular level the terminal enzymes of the heme biosynthetic pathway and the second is to examine regulatory mechanisms of heme biosynthesis that exist in erythroid and non-erythroid cell types. An integral part of both of these goals is to understand at both a biochemical and cellular level the specific nature of the human genetic diseases variegate porphyria (VP), erythropoietic protoporphyria (ESPP), and the X-linked sideroblastic anemia. Our aims are to establish cell lines and animal models for all of these disorders in order to gain an understanding of why humans possessing these disorders exhibit variable penetrance, why symptomatic patients exhibit significantly different intensities of symptoms and why clinically documented differences exist between male and female patients.
We are interested in biochemically characterizing the terminal enzymes of the pathway as they exist in both normal and porphyric individuals. With the cloning and bacterial expression of the human enzymes, it is possible to employ biophysical techniques in characterizing the enzymes. Current studies are directed at characterizing the substrate binding domains of the terminal two enzymes, ferrochelatase and protoporphyrinogen oxidase, and at examining the role of the iron sulfur cluster in ferrochelatase and the catalytic functioning of both enzymes.

Dr. Su-I Hou
Associate Professor, HPB Undergraduate Coordinator, CPH       
DrPH Graduate Coordinator

Contact:
309 Ramsey Center
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602
shou@uga.edu
Phone: (706) 542-8206
Fax: (706) 542-4956

 
Education:

Research:

Dr. Anil Mangla
Adjunct Professor

Contact:
Georgia Department of Human Resources
Lead Poisoning Prevention Director
Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics
anmangla@dhr.state.ga.us
Phone: (404) 463-0772

Education:
PhD, Texas Tech University
MS, University of Texas
BS, University of Kwazulu, South Africa

Research:  Anil Mangla grew up in South Africa and has witnessed suffering from infectious diseases such as smallpox, tuberculosis, cholera and HIV/AIDS. He specializes in improving the quality of life for people exposed to or infected by diseases, as well as educating them about different treatments. An expert on HIV and tuberculosis in Africa and developing countries, Dr. Mangla formerly served as President of the United Nations Association and the Chair of the Global Health and Infectious Disease committee. He chaired a non-profit organization called Sub-Saharan African Youth and Family Services in Minnesota where they assist immigrant populations with health issues. Mangla was also a member of the United States committee for the Minnesota-South Africa Health Volunteer partnership to assist in setting up clinics and working with a variety of governments in Africa. He had recently looked at the infrastructure in developing countries to assist in the roll-out of ART therapy. He is currently serving as adjunct faculty on international health for the Indiana University School of Medicine as well as the University of Georgia College’s of Public Health. Dr. Mangla at the present is working at the Georgia Department of Human Resources as Director of the Childhood Lead Poisoning Prevention Program.

Julie M. Moore
Associate Professor

Contact:
Department of Infectious Diseases
N330C Coverdell Center
Athens, GA 30602
julmoore@vet.uga.edu
Phone: (706) 542-5789

Education:
Department of Infectious Diseases BS, St. Lawrence University, 1987
PhD, University of Connecticut Health Center, 1995

Research: My research focuses on developing an understanding of immunoprotective and immunopathogenic processes in infections during pregnancy. For the past ten years, we have worked on understanding immunity to malaria at the placental level in women living under intense malaria transmission conditions in Kisumu, western Kenya. Kisumu, located on the shores of Lake Victoria, is 10 kilometers south of the equator. Malaria, which is a protozoal infection that is spread by Anopheles mosquitoes, is transmitted year round in this region. Under these conditions, adult men and women develop an effective anti-disease immunity to malaria; while they may harbor parasites in their blood circulation, they do not have symptomatic infections. When women become pregnant, however, their susceptibility to malaria increases dramatically. The hallmark of malaria during pregnancy is accumulation of malarial parasite-infected red blood cells in the maternal blood space of the placenta (the intervillous space). This accumulation is associated with pathologic changes in the placental tissue and intra-uterine growth retardation and low birth weight, conditions that seriously threaten the survival of newborns. Interestingly, these clinical conditions are worst in primigravidae (women in their first pregnancy); women gain the ability to control local parasitemia in the placenta over successive malaria-exposed pregnancies. By performing in depth studies of maternal cell-mediated in the intervillous blood, we are working to understand how this gravidity-dependent resistance to placental malaria develops and is maintained over successive pregnancies, with a particular focus on T cell memory responses. Our human studies also focus on the interaction between malaria and HIV during pregnancy. Although it is not so obvious in other groups, malaria is clearly an opportunistic infection in HIV-infected pregnant women, well before their immune system weakens to the point that other more common opportunistic infections take hold. In western Kenya, close to 30% of reproductive age-women are infected with HIV. We are working to understand how HIV impacts immunity to malaria and how changes in immunity in the placenta may influence transmission of the virus from mother to fetus/infant.
In another ongoing project, we are investigating the role of the fetal syncytiotrophoblast (the cell in direct contact with maternal blood inside the placenta) in modulating maternal immune responses to placental malaria. These studies have shown that the syncytiotrophoblast is an active player in the placental immune environment, and that binding of cytoadherent P. falciparum-infected red blood cells to this fetal cell activates signaling pathways and immune gene expression and product secretion. These studies are relevant to our understanding of the complexities of maternal/fetal interactions during malaria infection and highlight the need to consider this forgotten half of the equation when developing malaria vaccine approaches and other immunotherapies.
Finally, we have developed a mouse model for studies of the immunopathogenesis of malaria-associated pregnancy loss. In areas of low malaria endemnicity, or where malaria occurs in epidemics, outcomes of malarial infection for both mother and infant are poor. Maternal death due to P. falciparum infection and abortion and stillbirth are common. Very little is known about the underlying causes of fetal loss in these circumstances. We hypothesize that maternal immune responses to malaria, particularly exaggerated cytokine responses, cause irreparable damage to the fetoplacental unit, resulting in fetal loss. We are currently performing detailed studies using antibody ablation and gene knock-out mice to identify those maternal factors that contribute to failure of pregnancy during malarial infection.

Dr. Luke Naeher
Associate Professor, Graduate Coordinator

Contact:
150 Environmental Health Science
University of Georgia
Athens, GA 30602-2102
lnaeher@uga.edu
Phone: (706) 542-2454
Fax: (706) 542-7472

Education:

Courses:
EHSC 6080- Fundamentals of Air Pollution
EHSC 7060- Environmental Health 

Research: Human exposure assessment and epidemiological investigations relating to hazardous substances in the environment; indoor and outdoor air pollution, pesticides and other agriculture-related exposures; diet-related exposures to persistent organic pollutants and metals

Dr. Ynes Ortega
Associate Professor

Contact:
Department of Food Science and Technology
Center for Food Safety
185 Melton Bldg
Griffin, GA 30322
ortega@uga.edu
Phone: (770) 233-5587




Education:
Ph.D., 1996, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ
M.P.H., 2001, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD

Research: Dr. Ortega’s laboratory is focused on parasites that have been associated with food and water borne outbreaks. Because of current practices in the production and processing of food products, there is a need for studies aimed at the dynamics of disease transmission.
Detection assays that are sensitive and specific for human and animal pathogenic parasites in food products are being evaluated, as well as biological and environmental samples. We focus on the testing, development, and evaluation of methodologies for parasite inactivation in food products, and the study of risk factors associated with parasitic foodborne transmission.
Our goal is the development of safer produce and food products. The parasites currently being studied in this laboratory include Cryptosporidium parvum, Giardia lamblia, Cyclospora cayetanensis Toxoplasma gondii, and Neospora. Since the U.S. imports a large amount of fresh produce and some of this has been implicated in foodborne outbreaks, it was necessary and logical to initiate a training program where scientists from different institutions could become familiar with these parasites. For this two strategies have been initiated: 1) a training program for international scientists for 2-6 month periods and 2) informing the scientific community of the importance of food parasitology as an integral part of food safety. Additionally epidemiological studies on diarrheal illness in children in Peru are being developed, particularly looking at risk factors and environmental conditions that favor the presence and survival of these parasites.

Dr. Ralph Tripp
UGA College of Veterinary Medicine Department of Infectious Diseases

Contact:
Director, Center for Disease Intervention
Georgia Research Alliance Chair of Animal Health Vaccine Development
Animal Health Research Center (AHRC) 201
Athens, GA 30605
rtripp@vet.uga.edu; ratripp@uga.edu
Phone: (706) 542-1557

Education:
Ph.D., Oregon State University, 1989
B.S., Biology, Franklin Pierce College, N.H., 1984

Research: Ralph Tripp arrived at the Emory University School of Medicine in 1990 for a postdoctoral fellowship in a lab that focused on adenoviruses, which cause respiratory infections and are adept at bypassing the immune system. He left Emory for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital in 1993, and then joined the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta in 1997. Tripp was a section chief in the Respiratory and Enteric Viruses Branch of the CDC, where he studied immunity and disease pathogenesis associated with respiratory virus infections. He has studied influenza and respiratory virology for over 14 years, and disease intervention strategies since 1989.

His extensive program management experience includes designing and leading multiple projects at the CDC, involvement in the Southeast Regional Center for Excellence in Emerging Diseases, as well as participating in Agrosecurity Awareness Training Strategy for the Georgia Agroterrorism Committee.

He came to the veterinary college to direct vaccine and anti-viral studies in the Animal Health Research Center. His lab’s primary research interest is to understand the mechanisms of immunity and disease pathogenesis associated with respiratory virus infection, and to use this information to develop therapeutic protocols and vaccines that will provide protection or treatment. His studies center on understanding conceptual and functional differences between innate and adaptive immune responses to infection that provide the foundation necessary to facilitate disease intervention strategies.