Charles A. Scanga, PhD

  • Research Associate Professor

Education & Training

  • PhD in Microbiology and Molecular Virology, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, 2000
  • MCI in Clinical Immunology, Hahnemann University, 1989
  • BS in Biology, Saint Vincent College, 1987

Research Interests

Dr. Scanga joined the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine in 2008 and is currently a Research Associate Professor. His primary research interest is co-infection with HIV/ M. tuberculosis (Mtb). He uses nonhuman primate (NHP) models to better understand how SIV (as the surrogate for HIV) impairs host defense to a subsequent Mtb exposure and how TB or vaccinations drive SIV replication and pathogenesis, in collaboration with Dr. Shelby O’Connor (U. Wisconsin-Madison). He also recently began a study of HIV-Mtb co-infections in children. This project seeks to identify the immunology defect in SIV+ juvenile macaques that increases susceptibility to co-infection and assess the effects of antiretroviral therapy and immune checkpoint inhibitors. In collaboration with Dr. Lishomwa Ndlovu, a clinical researcher at Cornell, the project also analyzes immune responses in children infected with Mtb, HIV, or both to reveal how closely his NHP model recapitulates the immunologic defect in HIV+ kids. At the University of Pittsburgh, Dr. Scanga works closely with Dr. JoAnne Flynn, serving as the project manager for her TB studies. These diverse projects involve anti-TB drugs, novel PET probes for infectious diseases, novel TB vaccines, and basic pathogenesis. As the manager of the PET/CT imaging facility within the Regional Biocontainment Laboratory in Pitt’s Center for Vaccine Research, Dr. Scanga works closely with other Pitt researchers to apply PET/CT to research on various other microbial pathogens.

Publications

Rodgers MA, Ameel C, Ellis A, Balgeman A, Updike C, Maiello P, Barry GL, Friedrich TC, Klein E, O’Connor S and Scanga CA. 2018. Pre-existing SIV Infection Increases Susceptibility to Tuberculosis in Mauritian Cynomolgus Macaques. Infect Immun. 86: pii: e00565-18. | View abstract
 
Darrah PA, Zeppa JJ, Maiello P, Hackney JA, Wadsworth MH 2nd, Hughes TK, Pokkali S, Swanson PA 2nd, Grant NL, Rodgers MA, Kamath M, Causgrove CM, Laddy DJ, Bonavia A, Casimiro D, Lin PL, Klein E, White AG, Scanga CA, Shalek AK, Roederer M, Flynn JL and Seder RA. 2020. Prevention of tuberculosis in nonhuman primates following intravenous BCG immunization. Nature. 577: 95-102. | View abstract
 
Darrah PA, DiFazio RM, Maiello P, Gideon HP, Myers AJ, Rodgers MA, Hackney JA, Lindenstrom T, Evans T, Scanga CA, Prikhodko V, Andersen P, Lin PL, Laddy D, Roederer M, Seder RA and Flynn JL. 2019. Boosting BCG with proteins or rAd5 does not enhance protection against tuberculosis in rhesus macaques. NPJ Vaccines. 4: 21. | View abstract
 
Ellis A, Balgeman A, Rodgers M, Updike C, Tomko J, Maiello P, Scanga CA, and O'Connor SL. 2017. Characterization of T cells specific for CFP-10 and ESAT-6 in M. tuberculosis-infected Mauritian Cynomolgus Macaques. Infect Immun. 85: e01009-16. | View abstract
 
Ellis-Connell A, Balgeman A, Larson EC, Rodgers MA, Ameel C, Baranowski T, Maiello P, Juno JA, Scanga CA and O’Connor SL. 2020. MAIT cells are minimally responsive to Mycobacterium tuberculosis within granulomas, but are functionally impaired by SIV in a macaque model of SIV and Mtb coinfection. bioRxiv. 2020.01.07.897447 | View abstract

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