Center for Modeling Immunity to Enteric Pathogens galvanized for next phase of research

BLACKSBURG, Va., Dec. 16, 2011 – Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) researchers led by Dr. Bassaganya-Riera, Professor of Immunology at VBI and Director of the Nutritional Immunology and Molecular Medicine Laboratory (NIMML), returned from the Modeling Immunity for Biodefense (MIB) annual meeting galvanized to launch into Year Two of the Center for Modeling Immunity for Enteric Pathogens (MIEP) program. The MIB annual meeting also included other modeling centers such as the Center for Computational Immunology at Duke, the Program for Research on Immune Modeling and Experimentation at Mount Sinai/Yale, and the Center for Biodefense Immune Modeling at Rochester.

The meeting, held at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda on November 2-3, 2011 focused on achievements for the first part of the program and goals for the next phase of the MIEP program. Among the greatest achievements for MIEP were developing a computational model of CD4+ T cell differentiation using the Complex Pathway Simulator (COPASI) software; launching an enhanced version of CellPublisher, a unique platform that shows cell interactions via a Google maps-like interface and a high level of integration between modeling and experimental efforts; and deploying ENteric Immunity SImulator (ENISI), a newly developed interaction-based modeling software.

“The COPASI framework is very user-friendly and capable of providing a solid foundation for model implementation and sharing. I have no doubt that the computational models developed by MIEP will be extremely valuable to the study of immunity to enteric pathogens. The MIEP Center has made significant progress in characterizing mechanisms of immunoregulation at the gut mucosa while establishing fully integrated, novel and improved capabilities at the interface of immunology, bioinformatics, and modeling,” said Dr. Bassaganya-Riera.

For the second phase of the program, Dr. Bassaganya-Riera’s NIMML team will use the modeling process to generate novel hypotheses about mechanisms of immunoregulation and help guide the design of immunology experiments. These new experiments in animal models and human blood samples will help refine and validate our predictive computational models. The knowledge gained promises to lead to improved, broad-based and host-targeted therapeutics to counteract deadly gut pathogens and the inflammation they often cause.

“The NIMML investigated the role of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor γ (PPAR γ) on CD4+ T cell differentiation during infection with enteric pathogens. This provides an excellent framework for the development of novel mathematical models of immunity. In addition, PPAR γ represents a valuable target for developing new therapeutics for enteric infections,” said Dr. Raquel Hontecillas, the MIEP Immunology Lead and Assistant Professor at VBI.

Please visit the MIEP Web Portal at http://www.modelingimmunity.org. MIEP is funded by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, part of the National Institutes of Health.

About NIMML

The NIMML Institute is a 501 (c) (3) non-profit public charity foundation focused on a transdisciplinary, team-science approach to precision medicine at the interface of immunology, inflammation, and metabolism. The NIMML Institute team has led numerous large-scale transdisciplinary projects and is dedicated to solving important societal problems by combining the expertise of immunologists, computational biologists, toxicologists, modelers, translational researchers, and molecular biologists. The Institute is headquartered in Blacksburg, VA. For more information, please visit www.nimml.org or contact [email protected].