Contact

Department

Virology & Immunology, Texas Biomedical Research Institute

Patterson, Jean L., Ph.D.

Adjunct Professor

Personal Statement:

Dr. Patterson’s research focuses on emerging viral infections. She has directed the BSL4 maximum containment laboratory since 2000, and has extensive experience with advanced development of vaccine and therapeutics against hemorrhagic fever viruses as well as development of new animal models for hemorrhagic fever. In addition, the Patterson lab has also served as a mentor to graduate students and continues to work with graduate students.

Education

Ph.D., Biology at the University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, IN

Research

Research interests:
Texas Biomed’s Department of Virology and Immunology develops vaccines and therapeutics against highly lethal viral pathogens, and determines how they replicate and spread through basic and applied research. To defeat viruses that cause AIDS, hepatitis, herpes, hemorrhagic fevers, and a host of other illnesses, our scientists approach viruses on two different fronts. First, they examine how viruses replicate and propagate in order to identify their vulnerability. Second, they study how the immune system recognizes a virus and how best to stimulate immune response to clear viral infections.

Since the anthrax attacks in 2001 the US government has been committed to developing countermeasures to potential biological weapons, now referred to as select agents. Texas Biomed has had a BSL4 maximum containment laboratory since 2000. Patterson’s laboratory has worked on the development of countermeasures against many select agents. Her group works to develop therapies and vaccines against naturally occurring pathogens that can cause sporadic but lethal outbreaks. She has helped develop three vaccines against Ebola, one with Emory University and one with Crucell Pharmaceuticals and one with Bavarian Nordic, all are undergoing further studies. The laboratory has also worked with the University of Maryland on the development of two vaccines against Lassa fever. Lassa fever is a hemorrhagic fever which causes serious outbreaks in West Africa; more than 500,000 persons are infected every year with approximately a 10 percent fatality rate and many different forms of lasting effects. The Department of Defense and NIH are committed to an Ebola and Marburg vaccine by 2015, and Patterson’s group is working with them toward this goal.

Along with Dr. Ricardo Carrion, Jr., an Associate Scientist in the department, she has developed the marmoset as a model for many infectious agents. The marmoset is a small non-human primate that is not readily available to researchers. Its size and behavior make it a much better model than other larger and more aggressive non-human primates. To date Drs. Carrion and Patterson have utilized the marmoset for the model development of Eastern Equine Encephalitis virus, Lassa fever virus, Ebola and Marburg virus. The pathogenesis of these viral diseases in marmosets closely mimics that of human disease.

The BSL4 laboratory is utilized by the federal agencies, DOD, NIH, FDA and FBI for studies that require specific capabilities. It is also utilized by pharmaceutical companies for the testing of new treatments and vaccines against all highly lethal and contagious pathogens.

Awards & Accomplishments

  • Reviewer for:  Journal of Virology, Virology, Journal of General Virology, Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology, Antiviral Research, New England Journal Medicine
  • Filovirus Animal Non-Clinical Working Group (FANG).  Multiagency (NIH/DoD) Working Group
  • Co-Chair, ASM Biodefense Program Committee

Affiliations

  • Adjunct Professor, University of Texas Health Science Center
  • Member, Graduate Faculty at University of Texas Health Science Center, Department of Microbiology
  • Ad hoc reviewer, Promotions Committee, University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio
  • Ad hoc reviewer, Journal of Virology
  • Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences
  • American Institute of Biological Sciences
  • Molecular Biochemical Parasitology
  • The American Journal of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
  • Ad hoc reviewer, Wellcome TrustMember, American Association for the Advancement of ScienceMember, American Society for MicrobiologyMember, American Society for
  • VirologyMember, SACNAS (Society for Advancement of Chicanos and Native Americans in Science)Member, ASV American Type Culture Collection (ATCC) External Advisory Board
  • Adjunct Professor, University of Texas San Antonio
  • Member, ASM Biodefense Program Committee
  • Member, Institute of Medicine Report Review Committee on PPE Against Novel H1N1 Influenza A Advisor, RBL, University of Louisville, Kentucky
  • Member, Scientific Review Panel for IIMS/CTSA Pilot Projects, UTHSCSA
  • Member, Northeast Biodefense Center (NBC) Regional Centers of Excellence External Review Committee, New York, NY
  • Member, BioMed SA Infectious Disease Subcommittee, San Antonio, Texas
  • Ad Hoc Member, NIH SBIR Study Section
  • Ad Hoc Member, NIH Vaccine Study Section
  • Member, Filovirus Animal Non-clinical Group (FANG).  Multiagency (NIH, DoD) filovirus working   group to determine optimal procedures for filovirus vaccine and therapy testing.
  • Member, NIH Support for Conferences and Scientific Meetings (R13) Reviewer, July 2012
  • Ad hoc reviewer, Tulane University School of Medicine Promotions Committee
  • Reviewer, Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program DoD

Publications

Complete List of Publications

  • Jens H. Kuhn, Yiming Bao, Sina Bavari, Stephan Becker, Steven Bradfute, J. Rodney Brister, Alexander A. Bukreyev, Yingyun Cai, Kartik Chandran, Robert A. Davey, Olga Dolnik, John M. Dye, Sven Enterlein, Jean-Paul Gonzalez, Pierre Formenty, Alexander N. Freiberg, Lisa E. Hensley, Anna N. Honko, Georgy M. Ignatyev, Peter B. Jahrling, Karl M. Johnson, Hans-Dieter Klenk, Gary Kobinger, Matthew G. Lackemeyer, Eric M. Leroy, Mark S. Lever, Loreen L. Lofts, Elke Mühlberger, Sergey V. Netesov, Gene G. Olinger, Gustavo Palacios, Jean L. Patterson, Janusz T. Paweska, Louise Pitt, Sheli R. Radoshitzky, Elena I. Ryabchikova, Erica Ollmann Saphire, Aleksandr M. Shestopalov, Sophie J. Smither, Nancy J. Sullivan, Robert Swanepoel, Ayato Takada, Jonathan S. Towner, Guido van der Groen, Viktor E. Volchkov, Victoria Wahl-Jensen, Travis K. Warren, Kelly L. Warfield, Manfred Weidmann, Stuart T. Nichol, Virus nomenclature below the species level:  A standardized nomenclature for natural variants and isolates of viruses assigned to the family Filoviridae, Arch Virol. 2013 Jan 29. [Epub ahead of print]  PMCID: PMC23358612
  • Zapata JC, Carrion R Jr, Patterson JL, Crasta OR, Zhang Y, Mani S, Jett M, Poonia B, Djavani M, White DM, Lukashevick IS, Salvato MS,  Transcriptome Analysis of Human Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Exposed to Lassa Virus and to the Attenuated Mopeia/Lassa Reassortant 29 (ML29), a Vaccine Candidate, PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.  Research Article | published 12 Sep 2013 | PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002406
  • Judith Olejnik, Jesus Alonso, Wei Wang, Zhen Yan, Andrea Marzi, Hideki Ebihara, Jinghua Yang, Jean L. Patterson, Elena Ryabchikova, Elke Mühlberger, Ebola virus does not block apoptotic signaling pathways.  J. Virol., 2013, May:87(10):5384-96, PMID: 23468487 PMCID:  PMC3648168
  • Sidharth Chopra, Peter B. Madrid, Lynne Gilfillan, Tiffany Keepers, Ian D. Manger, Carol E. Green, Lalitha V. Iyer, Amy Shurtleff, Robert Davey, Andrey Kolokoltsov, Ricardo Carrion, Jean Patterson, Sina Bavari, Rehka Panchal, Travis Warren, Jay Wells, RaeLyn Burke, Mary J. Tanga, A systematic screen of FDA-approved drugs for inhibitors of bio-threat agents.  PLoS One. 2013;8(4):e60579. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0060579. Epub 2013 Apr 5. PMID: 23577127
  • Salvador B, Sexton NR, Carrion R Jr, Nunneley J, Patterson JL, Steffen I, Lu K, Muench MO, Lembo D, Simmons G, Filoviruses utilize glycosaminoglycans for their attachment to target cells.  J Virol. 2013 Mar;87(6):3295-304. doi: 10.1128/JVI.01621-12. Epub 2013 Jan 9.
  • Yu G, Yagi S, Carrion R Jr, Chen EC, Liu M, Brasky KM, Lanford RE, Kelly KR, Bales KL, Schnurr DP, Canfield DR, Patterson JL, Chiu CY,  Experimental Cross-Species Infection of Common Marmosets by Titi Monkey Adenovirus.  PLoS One. 2013 Jul 24;8(7):e68558. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0068558. Print 2013. PMID: 23894316
  • Amy C. Shurtleff, Nicole Garza, Matthew Lackemeyer, Ricardo Carrion, Jr., Anthony Griffiths, Jean Patterson, Samuel S. Edwin, Sina Bavari, Impact of Regulations, Safety Considerations and Physical Limitations on Research Progress at High Biocontainment, Advances in Filovirus Research. .  Viruses. 2012 Dec;4(12):3932-51. PCMID: PMC23342380
  • Chiu CY, Yagi S, Chen EC, Yu G, Leland MM, Patterson, JL.   A Novel Adenovirus Species Associated with an Acute Respiratory Outbreak in a Baboon Colony and Evidence of Coincident Human Infection, mBio. 2013 Apr 16;4(2):e00084-13. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00084-13. PMID: 23592261 PMCID: PMC3634605
  • Griffiths A, Hayhurst A, Davey R, Shtanko O, Carrion R Jr, Patterson JL, Ebola virus infection. In: Singh SK, Ruzek D, editors. Viral hemorrhagic fevers. Boca Raton: CRC Press; 2014. p. 435-56.
  • Jesus Alonso, Jean Patterson, Sequence Variability in Viral Genome Non-coding Regions Likely Contribute to Observed Differences in Viral Replication Amongst MARV Strains.  Virology. 2013 May 25;440(1):51-63. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2013.02.002. Epub 2013 Mar 16. PMID: 23510675