Mark K. Slifka
In their search for new and more effective vaccines, scientists are still unraveling the intricacies of those operations of the immune system that protect us from microbial infection. By understanding the mechanisms involved with improving T cell and B cell responses to foreign antigens, we will be able to develop more effective vaccines against viruses and other microbial pathogens.
Mark Slifka and his colleagues are investigating the underlying mechanisms of humoral and cell-mediated immunity against acute viral infections. This work has included developing several models of acute viral infection and/or vaccination in order to address basic immunological questions related to the development and maintenance of long-term protective immunity. We have also developed a series of clinical studies in which we study immunological memory directly in human subjects. During the course of this work, we study a number of viruses including arenaviruses (lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus, LCMV), flaviviruses (yellow fever virus and West Nile virus), and orthopoxviruses (vaccinia, cowpox, and monkeypox). The combination of basic research in animal models and applied research in clinical studies involving both healthy and immunocompromised populations has provided the opportunity to better define the requirements for immunological memory and to learn how to develop more effective diagnostics and vaccine candidates.
These experiments lay the foundation for future studies in which Slifka and team members will develop new antiviral vaccines and determine the mechanisms involved with building strong vaccine-induced immunity. For instance, these scientists have recently discovered a new approach to vaccine production that results in a safer, more effective vaccine preparation that can be used to create better human and animal vaccines that will require fewer booster vaccinations in order to maintain protective immunity for a prolonged period of time.
Biography
After graduating from Washington State University with a B.S. degree in microbiology and molecular biology in 1992 and from the UCLA School of Medicine with a Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology in 1996, Mark Slifka became a postdoctoral fellow in the department of neuropharmacology at the Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla. He came to the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute as an assistant professor and to ONPRC as an affiliate assistant scientist in 2001 and was promoted to associate professor in 2006.
Key Publications
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. Nat. Med. 9(9):1131-1137.
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. Nat. Med. 11(9):1005-1011.
Beadling, C., and M.K. Slifka (2006). Quantitation of viable virus-specific T cells withouth a prior knowledge of fine epitope specificity. Nat. Med. 12(10:1208-1212.
Amanna, I.J., Carlson, N.E., and M.K. Slifka (2007). Duration of humoral immunity to common virus and vaccine antigens. New England Journal of Medicine 357;19:1903-1915.
Hammarlund, E., Dasgupta, A.K., Pinilla, C., Norari, P., Früh, K., and M.K. Slifka (2008). Monkeypox virus evades antiviral CD4+ and CD8+ T cell responses by blocking cognate T cell activation. PNAS Sep 23; 105(38): 14567-14572.
Amanna, I.J., and M.K. Slifka (2009). Wanted, Dead or Alive: New Viral Vaccines. Antiviral Research: in press.
