Mark Slifka, Ph.D.

Biography
Dr. Mark Slifka graduated Cum Laude from Washington State University with a B.S. in Microbiology (Molecular Biology minor) in 1992.  In the fall of 1992, he entered graduate school at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Medicine and began work on his Ph.D. in Microbiology and Immunology. After graduating in 1996, Dr. Slifka worked as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Department of Neuropharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, CA. In the spring of 2001, he was recruited to Oregon Health & Science University.  He is currently an Associate Scientist at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute and holds concurrent appointments in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Dr. Slifka can be reached by e-mail at slifkam@ohsu.edu.

Research Overview
The main focus of my research is to determine the underlying mechanisms of humoral and cell-mediated immunity against acute viral infections.  In this regard, we have developed murine models of vaccination and acute viral infection in order to address basic immunological questions related to the development and maintenance of long-term protective immunity. In our murine studies, we have focused primarily on lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV), a natural mouse pathogen.  We have also developed a series of clinical protocols in which we study immunological memory directly in human subjects.  To date, we have measured immune responses against vaccinia (i.e., smallpox vaccination), monkeypox, measles, mumps, rubella, varicella-zoster virus, Epstein Barr virus, cytomegalovirus, tetanus, pertussis, and diphtheria. Future vaccine studies will also focus on flaviviruses including yellow fever and West Nile virus. The combination of basic research in animal models and applied research in clinical studies has provided an opportunity for defining the requirements for protective immunological memory as well as improving our ability to develop more effective diagnostics and potential vaccine candidates.

Selected manuscripts, published or in press:
Lewis, M.W., Graham, M.B., Hammarlund, E., Hanifin, J., M.K. Slifka (2007). Monkeypox without exanthem.  New England Journal of Medicine 356;20:2112-2114.

Beadling, C., and M.K. Slifka (2006). Quantitation of viable virus-specific T cells without a priori knowledge of fine epitope specificity.  Nature Medicine 12(10):1208-1212.

Hammarlund, E., Lewis, M.W., Carter, S., Yoshihara, P., Hanifin, J., Hansen, S.G., Wong, S., Strelow, L.I., Amanna, I., and M.K. Slifka (2005).  Multiple diagnostic techniques identify previously immunized individuals with protective immunity against monkeypox. Nature Medicine 11(9):1005-1011.

Nikolich-Zugich, J., M.K. Slifka, and I. Messaoudi (2004).  The many important facets of T-cell repertoire diversity. Nature Rev. Immunol.4:123-132.

Hammarlund, E., M.W. Lewis, S.G. Hansen, L.I. Strelow, J.A. Nelson, G.J. Sexton, J.M. Hanifin, M.K. Slifka (2003).  Duration of antiviral immunity following smallpox vaccination.  Nature Medicine 9(9):1131-1137.
Slifka, M.K. and J. L. Whitton (2001). Avidity maturation of CD8+ T cells results in greatly enhanced biological function without selection of higher affinity TcR. Nature Immunology 2:711-717.

Slifka, M.K. and J. L. Whitton (2000). Antigen-specific regulation of T cell-mediated cytokine production. Immunity 12:451-457

Slifka, M.K. Rodriguez, F., and J. L. Whitton (1999). Rapid on/off cycling of cytokine production by virus-specific CD8+ T cells. Nature 401:76-79.

Slifka, M.K., J. Whitmire, R. Antia, and R. Ahmed (1998). Humoral immunity due to long-lived plasma cells. Immunity 8:363-372.

A listing of publications by Dr. Slifka is available from the National Library of Medicine

[PubMed]