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James B Kaper
Ph.D.
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| Academic Title:
Professor |
| Primary Appointment:
Microbiology and Immunology |
| Secondary Appointments:
Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Medicine, University of Maryland Medical Biotechnology Institute |
| Administrative Title:
Chair |
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JKAPER@UMARYLAND.EDU |
| Location:
HSF1,
380 |
| Phone:
(410) 706-7114 |
| Phone:
(410) 706-2344 |
| Fax:
(410) 706-6970 |
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Personal History
I received my B.S. in Microbiology from the University of Maryland College Park (UMCP) in 1973. After taking a couple of years off from school, during which I worked in a series of jobs as a junior college instructor, theater scenery carpenter, and lab technician, I entered the Microbiology graduate program at UMCP. I conducted my doctoral research on enteric bacterial pathogens in the Chesapeake Bay under the mentorship of Dr. Rita Colwell. From 1979 – 1981 I was a Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Stanley Falkow at the University of Washington in Seattle, where I worked on the molecular pathogenesis of Vibrio and Pseudomonas infections and developed techniques to study the molecular epidemiology of bacterial infections. In 1981, I joined the faculty of the University of Maryland School of Medicine as Chief of the Bacterial Genetics Section of the Center for Vaccine Development with academic appointments as Assistant Professor of Medicine (primary) and Microbiology & Immunology (secondary). In 1999, my primary academic appointment switched to the Department of Microbiology & Immunology, and in 2007 I became Chair of that Department. My research has been continuously funded by the NIH since 1982, including a MERIT award from the NIAID.
Research Interests
Research in my laboratory focuses on the molecular pathogenesis of enteric bacterial pathogens. Our studies range from basic research on pathogenesis and prokaryotic gene regulation to translational research such as the development of new vaccines and diagnostic probes. The specific pathogens being studied are Vibrio cholerae and diarrheagenic Escherichia coli. Our work with V. cholerae has resulted in the development of an attenuated live oral cholera vaccine that was the first recombinant bacterial vaccine to be tested in and licensed for humans. We are currently investigating the interaction of V. cholerae and the innate immune system, specifically the activation of TLR5 by V. cholerae flagella, and the in vivo induction of gene expression during infection. Our work with pathogenic E. coli focuses on enteropathogenic E. coli (EPEC), a cause of infant diarrhea, and enterohemorrhagic E. coli O157:H7 (EHEC), a cause of bloody diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome. The latter pathogen has achieved particular notoriety as the cause of large outbreaks of disease due to ingestion of contaminated spinach and hamburgers. Our research has yielded many insights into the pathogenesis and evolution of these pathogens, including the discovery of a 35,000 bp “pathogenicity island” that mediates epithelial cell adherence and intestinal histopathology, global regulators of virulence gene transcription, a cell-to-cell signaling system (quorum sensing) that regulates virulence gene expression, and diagnostic DNA probes.
Publications
Recent Publications
Torres, A.G., X. Zhou, and J.B. Kaper. Adherence of diarrheagenic Escherichia coli strains to epithelial cells. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:18-29.
Jordan, D.M., V. Sperandio, J.B. Kaper, E.A. Dean-Nystrom, and H.W. Moon. Colonization of gnotobiotic piglets by a luxS mutant strain of Escherichia coli O157:H7. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:1214-1216.
Leverton, L.Q. and J.B. Kaper. Temporal expression of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli virulence genes during an in vitro model of infection. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:1034-1043.
Osorio, C.G., J.A. Crawford, J. Michalski, H. Martinez-Wilson, J.B. Kaper, and A. Camilli. Second-generation recombination-based in vivo expression technology for large-scale screening for Vibrio cholerae genes induced during infection of the mouse small intestine. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73: 972-980.
Tomson, F.L, V.K. Viswanathan, K.J. Kanack, R.P. Kanteti, K.V. Straub, M. Manet, J.B. Kaper, G. Hecht. EPEC EspG disrupts microtubules and in conjunction with Orf3 enhances perturbation of tight junction barrier. Molecular Microbiology, 2005, 56:447-464.
Kanack, K.J., J.A. Crawford, I. Tatsuno, M.A. Karmali, and J.B. Kaper. SepZ/EspZ is secreted secreted and translocated into HeLa cells by the Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli type-III secretion system. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:4327-4337
Kaper, J.B. and V. Sperandio. Bacterial cell-to-cell signaling in the gastrointestinal tract. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:3197-3206.
Scaletsky, I.C.A., J. Michalski, A.G. Torres, M.V. Dulguer, and J.B. Kaper. Identification and characterization of the locus of diffuse adhesion (LDA), which encodes a novel adherence factor found in atypical enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. Infection and Immunity, 2005, 73:4753-4765.
Kaper, J.B. Pathogenic Escherichia coli. International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2005, 295:355-356.
Tatsuno, I., R. Mundy, G. Frankel, Y. Chong, A.D. Phillips, A.G. Torres, and J.B. Kaper. The lpf gene cluster for long polar fimbriae is not involved in adherence of enteropathogenic Escherichia coli or virulence of Citrobacter rodentium. Infection and Immunity, 2006, 74:265-272.
Zhu, C., S. Feng, T.E. Thante, J.B. Kaper, E.C. Boedeker. Towards a vaccine for attaching/effacing Escherichi coli: A LEE- encoded regulator (ler) mutant of rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli is attenuated, immunogenic and protects rabbits from lethal challenge with the virulent wild type strain. Vaccine, 2006, 24:3845-3855.
Miyamoto, Y., M. Iimura, J.B. Kaper, A.G. Torres, L. Johannes, and M.F. Kagnoff. Role of Shiga toxin vs. H7 flagellin in enterohemorrhagic E. coli signaling of human colon epithelium in vivo. Cellular Microbiology, 2006, 8:869-879.
Fitzhenry, R., S. Dahan, A.G. Torres, Y. Chong, R. Heuschkel, S.H. Murch, M. Thomson, J.B. Kaper, G. Frankel and A.D. Phillips. Long polar fimbriae and tissue tropism in Escherichia coli O157:H7. Microbes and Infection, 2006, 8:1741-1749.
Brinkley, C., V. Burland, R. Keller, F.R. Blattner, and J.B. Kaper. Complete nucleotide sequence and functional characterization of the enteropathogenic Escherichia coli (EPEC) adherence factor (EAF) plasmid pMAR7. Infection and Immunity, 2006, 74:5408-5413.
Jores, J., A.G. Torres, S. Wagner, C.B. Tutt, J.B. Kaper and L.H. Wieler. Identification and characterization of "pathoadaptive mutations" of the cadBA operon in several intestinal Escherichia coli. International Journal of Medical Microbiology, 2006, 296:547-552.
Schuller, S., R. Heuschkel, F. Torrente, J.B. Kaper, and A.D. Phillips. Shiga toxin binding in normal and inflamed human intestinal mucosa. Microbes and Infection, 2007, 9:35-39.
Zhu, C., S. Feng, Z. Yang, K. Davis, H. Rios, J.B. Kaper, and E.C. Boedeker. LEE-encoded regulator (Ler) mutants elicit serotype-specific protection, but not cross-protection, against attaching and effacing Escherichia coli strains. Vaccine, 2007, 25:1884-1892.
Rendón, M.A., Z. Saldana, V. Monteiro-Neto, A.L. Erdem, D.R. Hernández, A. Vázquez, J.B. Kaper, J.L. Puente, and J.A. Girón. Commensal and pathogenic Escherichia coli use a common pilus adherence factor for epithelial cell colonization. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 2007, 104:10637-10642.
Xicohténcatl-Cortes, J., V. Monteiro-Neto, M.A. Rendón, M.A. Ledesma, O. Francetic, P. Samadder, P. Vázquez, J.B. Kaper, J.L. Puente, J.A. Girón. Intestinal Adherance associated with type IV pili of Enterohemorrhagic Escherichia coli O157:H7. Journal of Clinical Investigation, 2007 Nov 1; 117 (11): 3519-3529.
Lombardo, M-J, J. Michalski, H. Martinez-Wilson, N. Maroncle, C.G. Osorio, J.P. Nataro, C.O. Tacket, A. Camilli, and J.B. Kaper. A V. cholerae IVET (In Vivo Expression Technology) screen in human volunteers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA PNAS, 2007, 104:18229-18234
Zhu, C., S. Feng, V. Sperandio, Z. Yang, T.E. Thate, J.B. Kaper, E.C. Boedeker. The possible influence of LuxS in the in vivo virulence of rabbit enteropathogenic Escherichia coli. Veterinary Microbiology, 2007, 125: 313-322.
Gomez-Duarte O.G., Chattopadyay S., Weissman S.J., Giron J.A., Kaper, J.B., Sokuremko E.V., Genetic Diversity of the gene cluster encoding Longus, a type IV pilus of enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli. Journal of Bacteriology, 2007, 189:9145-9149
Bai L., Schuller S., Whale, Mousiner A., Marches O., Wang L., Ooka T., Heushkel R. Torrente F., Kaper J.B., Gomes T.A.,Xu J., Phillips A.D., Frankel G., Enteropathogenic Escherichia coli O125:H6 triggers attaching and effacing lesions on human biopsy specimens independently of Nck and TccP/TccP2. Infection and Immunity, 2008, 76:361-368
Kaper, J.B. and M.A. Karmali. The continuing evolution of a bacterial pathogen. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, USA, 2008 105:4543-4536
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