Immunology & Infectious Diseases

George Smulian

George Smulian, MD

Int Med-Infect Disease

Associate Professor

Research Summary

Pneumocystis carinii, an opportunistic pulmonary pathogen, are the leading cause of pneumonia in AIDS patients. Almost every aspect research into P. carinii has been impacted by the inability to sustain long term in vitro culture of the organism. Dr Smulian's research has focused on three areas:

  1. characterizing the immunobiology of the p55 antigen of P. carinii
  2. characterizing the signal transduction pathways of P. carinii with specific reference to response to environmental stimuli
  3. applying additional molecular techniques to the study of P. carinii, particularly developing a transformation system.

Characterization of the pathobiology of p55 include localization of the antigen within the organism, identification of interaction with other P. carinii proteins, characterization of the host humoral and cellular immune response to the antigen and examination of the protective nature of such responses.

Little is known regarding the response of P. carinii to its environment. Signal transduction studies have focused on identifying signal transduction components utilized by P. carinii and developing tools to study the response of the organism to changes in its environment. The lack of a long term in vitro cultivation system necessitates identification of alternative approaches to the study of P. carinii. Studies include the development of a transformation system for P. carinii and the application of other molecular techniques to the study of P. carinii.

Recent Publications

Hilty J, Smulian AG, Newman SL. The Histoplasma capsulatum vacuolar ATPase is required for iron homeostasis, intracellular replication in macrophages andvirulence in a murine model of histoplasmosis. Mol Microbiol. 2008Oct;70(1):127-39. Epub 2008 Aug 11. PubMed PMID: 18699866; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2570752. 

 Winters MS, Spellman DS, Chan Q, Gomez FJ, Hernandez M, Catron B, Smulian AG, Neubert TA, Deepe GS Jr. Histoplasma capsulatum proteome response to decreasediron availability. Proteome Sci. 2008 Dec 24;6:36. PubMed PMID: 19108728; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2645362.

Deepe GS Jr, Gibbons RS, Smulian AG. Histoplasma capsulatum manifestspreferential invasion of phagocytic subpopulations in murine lungs. J LeukocBiol. 2008 Sep;84(3):669-78. Epub 2008 Jun 24. PubMed PMID: 18577715;PubMedCentral PMCID: PMC2516902.

Smulian AG, Gibbons RS, Demland JA, Spaulding DT, Deepe GS Jr. Expression ofhygromycin phosphotransferase alters virulence of Histoplasma capsulatum.Eukaryot Cell. 2007 Nov;6(11):2066-71. Epub 2007 Sep 14. PubMed PMID: 17873086;PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2168422.

Bubnick M, Smulian AG. The MAT1 locus of Histoplasma capsulatum is responsive in a mating type-specific manner. Eukaryot Cell. 2007 Apr;6(4):616-21. Epub 2007 Feb 23. PubMed PMID: 17322347; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC1865664. 

Cushion MT, Smulian AG. Pneumocystis 2006: summary of the research presentedat the ninth International Workshop on Opportunistic Protists. J EukaryotMicrobiol. 2006;53 Suppl 1:S80-4. Review. PubMed PMID: 17169077.

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