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Ted M. Ross, Ph.D.
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Associate Professor
9047 BST3
3051 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Phone: (412) 624-8666
Fax: (412) 624-4440
E-mail: tmr15@pitt.edu
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Biography
Dr. Ross is an Associate Professor in the Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics. He received his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Vanderbilt University in 1996. He trained in HIV/AIDS and Vaccine Development and Immunology at Duke and Emory Universities. He is a member of the Molecular Virology and Microbiology and Immunology graduate programs. His research focuses on understanding the mechanisms and development of effective vaccine design for infectious agents.
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Research
Our research focuses on understanding the mechanisms and development of effective vaccines for influenza, HIV-1 and emerging disease agents, such as Rift Valley Fever virus, West Nile virus and Dengue virus. His laboratory uses techniques, such as DNA vaccination (genetic vaccination), to induce protective immunity against a variety of pathogens. These genetic vaccines consist of eukaryotic expression plasmids that are inoculated into target cells and translated into proteins. These vaccinations effectively induces both humoral and cellular immune responses in both the mucosal and peripheral immune compartments to immunogens derived from diverse infectious agents. In order to improve the efficacy of vaccines for infectious disease, our laboratory has developed several strategies to elicit high titer protective immune responses: 1) Virus-like particle (VLP)-based vaccines and 2) Viral envelope glycoprotein conjugated to a component of the innate immune system, C3d. Each regimen effectively stimulates the broadly reactive immune responses to combat the diversity of viral isolates. These vaccines are tested in rodents and non-human primates, as well as human clinical trials.
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Selected Publications
- McBurney SP, Ross TM. 2009. "Human immunodeficiency virus-like particles with consensus envelopes elicited broader cell-mediated peripheral and mucosal immune responses than polyvalent and monovalent Env vaccines" Vaccine 27: 4337-4349. | Abstract
- Sodora DL, Ross TM. 2009. "Simian immunodeficiency virus pathogenesis" Curr HIV Res. 7:1. | Abstract
- McBurney SP, Ross TM. 2008. "Viral sequence diversity: challenges for AIDS vaccine designs" Expert Rev Vaccines. 7:1405-17. | Abstract
- Crevar CJ, Ross TM. 2008. "Elicitation of protective immune responses using a bivalent H5N1 VLP vaccine" Virol J. 5:131. | Abstract
- Mahmood K, Bright RA, Mytle N, Carter DM, Crevar CJ, Achenbach JE, Heaton PM, Tumpey TM, Ross TM. 2008. "H5N1 VLP vaccine induced protection in ferrets against lethal challenge with highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza viruses" Vaccine 26:5393-9. | Abstract
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