The Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease has created a seminar series which will be held once a month in Geary Auditorium A in the New College Building.  The first speaker in the newly established seminar series is Dr. Julie Strizki.  Dr. Strizki will be presenting a seminar entitled “Discovery and Development of Novel CCR5 Antagonists for HIV Therapy” on Wednesday, January 25tth at 4 p.m.

Dr. Strizki earned a B.S. in Biology at Ursinus College in Collegeville, PA, and then a Ph.D. degree in 1994, working in the laboratory of Dr. Patricia Repik in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical College of Pennsylvania. Her thesis research involved establishing the molecular, phenotypic and antigenic relationships existing among North and South American strains of eastern equine encephalitis virus, defining the immunogenic and protective capabilities of various vaccine preparations and developing a murine model of viral pathogenesis.

She then moved to a post-doctoral followed by a research associate positions in the Department of Neurology at the University of Pennsylvania in the laboratory of Dr. Francisco González-Scarano, where she was working on the identification and characterization of the expression of chemokine receptors in the brain and their role in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) infection of the CNS and neuropathogenesis, as well as on the contribution of viral and cellular factors to the neuropathogenesis of HIV-1 associated dementia using both molecular and cell based approaches.

In 1998, she joined the Schering-Plough Research Institute in Kenilworth, NJ as a Senior Scientist and has since moved up through Associate Principal Scientist, Principal Scientist and was recently promoted to Section Leader of the Virology section within the Biological Research Department. She has been involved in the discovery and development of small molecule antagonists of the CCR5 chemokine receptor with potent anti-HIV-1 activity, currently in clinical trials, and right now she enjoys additional responsibilities since she is in charge of the identification of novel antiviral agents for HIV-1 and hepatitis C virus.

Her work throughout the years has resulted in multiple publications, some of which are listed below.

1. Strizki JM, Tremblay C, Xu S, Wojcik L, Wagner N, Gonsiorek W, Hipkin RW, Chou CC, Pugliese-Sivo C, Xiao Y, Tagat JR, Cox K, Priestley T, Sorota S, Huang W, Hirsch M, Reyes GR, Baroudy BM. Discovery and characterization of vicriviroc (SCH 417690), a CCR5 antagonist with potent activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1.  Antimicrob Agents Chemother 2005; 49: 4911-9.
2. Marozsan AJ, Kuhmann SE, Morgan T, Herrera C, Rivera-Troche E, Xu S, Baroudy BM, Strizki J, Moore JP. Generation and properties of a human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate resistant to the small molecule CCR5 inhibitor, SCH-417690 (SCH-D). Virology 2005; 338: 182-99.
3. Ketas TJ, Klasse PJ, Spenlehauer C, Nesin M, Frank I, Pope M, Strizki JM, Reyes GR, Baroudy BM, Moore JP. Entry inhibitors SCH-C, RANTES, and T-20 block HIV type 1 replication in multiple cell types. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 2003; 19: 177-86.
4. Strizki JM, Xu S, Wagner NE, Wojcik L, Liu J, Hou Y, Endres M, Palani A, Shapiro S, Clader JW, Greenlee WJ, Tagat JR, McCombie S, Cox K, Fawzi AB, Chou CC, Pugliese-Sivo C, Davies L, Moreno ME, Ho DD, Trkola A, Stoddart CA, Moore JP, Reyes GR, Baroudy BM. SCH-C (SCH 351125), an orally bioavailable, small molecule antagonist of the chemokine receptor CCR5, is a potent inhibitor of HIV-1 infection in vitro and in vivo. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2001; 98: 12718-23.
5. Shieh JT, Albright AV, Sharron M, Gartner S, Strizki J, Doms RW, Gonzalez-Scarano F. Chemokine receptor utilization by human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolates that replicate in microglia. J Virol 1998; 72: 4243-9.
6. Strizki JM, Turner JD, Collman RG, Hoxie J, Gonzalez-Scarano F. A monoclonal antibody (12G5) directed against CXCR-4 inhibits infection with the dual-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolate HIV-1(89.6) but not the T-tropic isolate HIV-1(HxB). J Virol 1997; 71: 5678-83.
7. Strizki JM, Albright AV, Sheng H, O'Connor M, Perrin L, Gonzalez-Scarano F. Infection of primary human microglia and monocyte-derived macrophages with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 isolates: evidence of differential tropism. J Virol 1996; 70: 7654-62.
8. Strizki JM, Repik PM. Structural protein relationships among eastern equine encephalitis viruses. J Gen Virol 1994; 75: 2897-909.