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Faculty Detail     Name DAVID E BRILES   Campus Address BBRB 658 Zip 2170 Phone 205-934-6595 E-mail dbriles@uab.edu Other websites PubMed Listing

Faculty Appointment(s) Appointment Type Department Division Rank Primary  Microbiology  Microbiology Professor Secondary  Genetics   Genetics Chair Office Professor Secondary  Pediatrics   Pediatrics Chair Office Professor Center  Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Diseases Center  Arthritis & Musculoskeletal Diseases Center Professor Center  Center for Aging  Center for Aging Professor Center  Center for AIDS Research  Center for AIDS Research Professor Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center  Comprehensive Cancer Center Professor Center  General Clinical Research Center  Ctr for Clinical & Translational Sci Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations Cellular and Molecular Biology Program  Genetics and Genomic Sciences  Immunology  Integrative Genetics Graduate Program  Medical Scientist Training Program  Microbiology

Biographical Sketch  David E. Briles (b.1945), Professor of Microbiology and Pediatrics, did his graduate work on the genetic regulation of antibody binding site structure at The Rockefeller University in New York City with Dr. Richard Krause. Dr. Briles' postdoctoral studies, with Dr. Joseph Davie at Washington University Medical School in St. Louis, dealt with the expression of antibody diversity in antibacterial antibody responses and the genetic control of susceptibility of mice to Salmonella and pneumococcal infection. He joined the UAB faculty in 1978. His is presently working on the molecular biology and genetics of bacterial pathogenesis, bacterial vaccines, and epidemiology of bacterial infections. Together with other colleagues at UAB and past trainees he holds a number of patents on pneumococcal vaccine antigens. His present studies are on protein virulence factors of pneumococci, their mechanisms of action and potential use in vaccines. In recent years his lab has worked to develope surrogate assays for protective immunity to pneumococcal protein antigens. Dr. Briles has served on several study sections at the NIH and FDA and editorial several boards. He has been an advisor about the potential of pneumococcal proteins as human vaccine to the WHO, PAHO, FDA, and the PATH foundation. Dr. Briles is also a faculty member at SungKyunKwan University in South Korea where he spends two months each year as a WCU scholar. He is also an Adjunct Professor at Northern Illinois University, DeKalb, Illinois. Dr. Briles is married and has two grown children. His hobby is tree farming.

Society Memberships Organization Name Position Held Org Link American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)  Member    American Association of Immunologists  Member    American Society for Microbiology (ASM)   Member    Infectious Disease Society of America  Member

Research/Clinical Interest Title Pneumococcal virulence factors; mechanisms of action and use in vaccine Description We study the interactions of host defenses and bacterial virulence factors in the pathogenesis of bacteria. Our approach is to use both bacterial and animal genetics to identify and study important mechanisms in protection and virulence. We have identified a cell wall protein of pneumococci, PspA, which is important for pneumococcal virulence and which may be useful as a vaccine for very young children. Studies are underway to characterize the protection-eliciting portion of PspAs from different childhood strains of pneumococci, and to assemble these into an effective human vaccine with other pneumococcal proteins. We are studying the mode of action of several pneumococcal virulence factors including PspA, pneumolysin, PspC, PsaA, PcpA, and NanA, and are investigating the possibility of developing a pneumococcal vaccine that would prevent pneumococcal carriage. In other studies, we are investigating the effects of specific immunity and inflammation induced host immunity on the in vivo killing and growth rates of Streptococcus pneumoniae. In collaboration with Drs. Crain in Pediatrics and Nahm in Pathology, we have examined the changing distributions of capsular polysaccharides and protein antigens in human pneumococcal isolates.

Selected Publications  Publication PUBMEDID CLICK url UNDER "FACULTY DETAIL" ABOVE TO LINK TO CURRENT PUBLICATIONS VIA PubMed

Keywords Streptococcus pneumoniae, virulence, host immunity, vaccines, virulence factors, mechanisms of virulence, vaccine antigens

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