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(480)727-0445

Roy Curtiss, PhD

Director

The Biodesign Institute, Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology

Professor

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, School of Life Sciences

Bio

Roy Curtiss, III, PhD, is the director of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology. He is a leader in exploring the genetic basis by which bacteria colonize invade and induce disease. A member of the prestigious National Academy of Sciences, Curtiss seeks to create vaccines that are safe and effective.

Most recently Curtiss' focus has been on the design, construction and evaluation of recombinant genetically modified Salmonella vaccine strains as immunizing vectors to deliver protection against disease. The selected use of mutant derivatives of Salmonella to deliver protective antigens could safely induce immunity in both humans and livestock.

Specifically, current endeavors are directed at developing vaccines to prevent infections by: Streptococcus pneumoniae, Mycobacterium tuberculosis, Clostridium perfringens, ersinia pestis, enteric pathogens such as Salmonella, Escherichia, Shigella and Yersinia, Listeria monocytogenes, hepatitis B virus, influenza viruses (human and avian) and Eimeria species.

In addition to his extensive knowledge of bacterial genetics, Curtiss has considerable expertise in avian plant and phage genetics. Curtiss' body of published work includes more than 250 reviewed articles. He has been issued numerous patents for his discoveries, including one for the use of recombinant avirulent Salmonella, Escherichia and Salmonella-Escherichia hybrids as antigen delivery vectors to induce mucosal, systemic and cellular immunity.

Dubbed recently in the press as a '60-year-old biology superstar' Curtiss was among the hand full of researchers and graduate students attending the Cold Spring Harbor symposium of 1958. The disciplines of molecular biology and genetics were just beginning and six of the scientists attending that meeting would later receive Nobel Prizes for groundbreaking research.

Before his time at ASU, Curtiss was the George William and Irene Keochig Freiberg professor of biology at Washington University where he chaired the Department of Biology from 1983-1993. In addition to his academic pursuits, Curtiss founded MEGAN Health Inc. where he served as a member of the board of directors until 2000.

Curtiss participates in a number of national and international activities and is a member of the American Society for Microbiology Finance Committee, a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and a member of the NIH Vaccine Research Study Section. Since 2000, Dr. Curtiss has chaired the Board of Executive Editors, Escherichia coli & Salmonella: Cellular and Molecular Biology, ASM Press.

Curtiss earned a BS from Cornell University and a PhD from the University of Chicago.

Selected Publications

2007

  • Santander, J M, Wanda, S Y, Nickerson, C, Curtiss, Roy. Role of RpoS in fine-tuning the synthesis of Vi capsular polysaccharide in Salmonella enterica serotype Typhi. Infect Immun (2007).

2006

  • Konjufca, V, Wanda, S Y, Jenkins, M C, Curtiss, Roy. Recombinant attenuated Salmonella typhimurium vaccine encoding Eimeria acervulina antigen offers protection against Eimeria acervulina challenge. Infect Immun (2006).
  • Loessner, H, Endmann, A, Rhode, M, Curtiss, Roy, Weiss, S. Differential effect of auxotrophies on the release of macromolecules by Salmonella enterica vaccine strains. FEMS Microbiol. Lett (2006).

2005

  • Abromaitis, S, Faucher, S, Beland, M, Curtiss, Roy, Daigle, F. The presence of the tet gene from cloning vectors impairs Salmonella survival in macrophages. FEMS Microbiol. Lett (2005).
  • Curtiss, Roy. Antigen delivery systems: Development of live recombinant attenuated bacterial antigen and DNA vaccine delivery vector vaccines. Mucosal Immunology (2005).
  • Faucher, S P, Curtiss, Roy, Daigle, F. Selective capture of Salmonella enterica serovar typhi genes expressed in macrophages that are absent from the Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium genome. Infect. Immun (2005).
  • Lamarche, M G, Dozois, C M, Daigle, F, Caza, M, Curtiss, Roy, Dubreuil, J D, Harel, J. Inactivation of the Pst system reduces the virulence of an avian pathogenic Escherichia coli O78 strain. Infect. Immun (2005).
  • Uzzau, S, Marogna, G, Leori, G S, Curtiss, Roy, Schianchi, G, Stocker, B AD, Rubino, S. Virulence attenuation and live vaccine potential of aroA, crp cdt cya, and plasmid-cured mutants of Salmonella enterica serovar Abortusovis in mice and sheep. Infect. Immun (2005).

2004

  • Baud, D, Benyacoub, J, Kok, M, Ponci, F, Bobst, M, Curtiss, Roy, De Grandi, P, Nardhelli-Haefliger, D. Immunogenicity against human papillomavirus type 16 virus like particles is strongly enhanced by the PhoPc phenotype in Salmonella typhimurium. Infect. Immun (2004).

2003

  • Dozois, C M, Daigle, F, Curtiss, Roy. Identification of pathogen-specific and conserved genes expressed in vivo by an avian pathogenic Escherichia coli strain. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA (2003).
  • Kang, H Y, Curtiss, Roy. Immune responses dependent on antigen location in recombinant attenuated Salmonella typhimurium vaccines following oral immunization. FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. Lett (2003).
  • Mellata, M, Dho-Moulin, M, Dozois, C M, Curtiss, Roy, Brown, P, Arne, P, Bree, A, Desautels, C, Fairbrother, J M. Role of virulence factors in resistance of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli to serum and in pathogenicity. Infect. Immun (2003).
  • Mellata, M, Dho-Moulin, M, Dozois, C M, Curtiss, Roy, Lehoux, B, Fairbrother, J M. Role of avian pathogenic Escherichia coli virulence factors in bacterial interaction with chicken heterophils and macrophages. Infect. Immun (2003).

2002

  • Curtiss, Roy. Bacterial biotechnology and development of recombinant attenuated vaccines. Proceedings of the International Conference "Genetically Modified Organisms: Doubts and certainties (2002).
  • Curtiss, Roy. Perspective: Bacterial infectious disease control by vaccine development. J. Clin. Invest (2002).
  • Honeyman, A L, Cote, C K, Curtiss, Roy. Construction of transcriptional and translational lacZ gene reporter plasmids for use in Streptococcus mutans. J. Microbiol. Meth (2002).
  • Kang, H Y, Dozois, C M, Tinge, S A, Lee, T H, Curtiss, Roy. Transduction-mediated transfer of unmarked deletion and point mutations through use of counterselectable suicide vectors. J. Bacteriol (2002).
  • Kang, H Y, Srinivasan, J, Curtiss, Roy. Immune responses to recombinant pneumococcal PspA antigen delivered by live attenuated Salmonella enterica serovar typhimurium vaccine. Infect. Immun (2002).
  • McVey, D S, Chengappa, M M, Mosier, D E, Stone, G G, Oberst, R D, Sylte, M J, Gabbert, N M, Kelly-Aehle, S M, Curtiss, Roy. Immunogenicity of ?4127 phoP - Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in dogs. Vaccine (2002).
  • Schnapp, A R, Eickhoff, C S, Sizemore, D, Curtiss, Roy, Hoft, D F. Cruzipain induces both mucosal and systemic protection against Trypanosoma cruzi in mice. Infect. Immun (2002).

2001

  • Brown, P K, Dozois, C M, Nickerson, C A, Zuppardo, A, Terlonge, J, Curtiss, Roy. MlrA a novel regulator of curli (Agf) synthesis and aggregation by Escherichia coli and Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium. Mol. Microbiol (2001).
  • Curtiss, Roy. Vaccines and vaccine technology to prevent typhoid and Salmonella diarrheal diseases. Typhoid Fever and other Salmonellosis. Proceedings of the 4th International Symposium (2001).
  • Curtiss, Roy, Blower, S, Cooper, K, Russell, D, Silverstein, S, Young, L. Leprosy research in the post-genome era. Lepr. Rev (2001).
  • Daigle, F, Graham, J E, Curtiss, Roy. Identification of Salmonella typhi genes expressed within macrophages by selective capture of transcribed sequences (SCOTS). Mol. Microbiol (2001).
  • Frey, S E, Bollen, W, Sizemore, D, Campbell, M, Curtiss, Roy. Bacteremia associated with live attenuated ?8110 Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi ISP1820 in healthy adult volunteers. Clin. Immunol (2001).
  • Schaechter, M, Beckwith, J, Curtiss, Roy, Hatfield, W, Ingraham, J, Low, K B, Magasanik, B, Neidhardt, F, Reznikoff, W, Riley, M. Escherichia coli and Salmonella 2000: The view from here. Microbiol. Mol. Biol. Rev (2001).
  • Sheoran, A S, Timoney, J F, Tinge, S A, Sundaram, P, Curtiss, Roy. Intranasal immunogenicity of a ?cya ?crp-pabA mutant of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium for the horse. Vaccine (2001).
  • Sheoran, A S, Timoney, J F, Tinge, S S, Sundaram, P, Curtiss, Roy. Intranasal immunogenicity of a ?cya ?crp-pabA mutant of Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium for the horse. Vaccine (2001).

2000

  • Curtiss, Roy, Blower, S, Cooper, K, Russell, D, Silverstein, S, Young, L. Leprosy research in the post-genome era: Workshop. Int. J. Lepr (2000).
  • Dozois, C M, Dho-Moulin, M, Brée, A, Fairbrother, J M, Desautels, C, Curtiss, Roy. Relationship between the Tsh autotransporter and pathogenicity of avian Escherichia coli, and localization and analysis of the tsh genetic region. Infect. Immun (2000).
  • Honeyman, A L, Curtiss, Roy. The mannitol-specific enzyme II (mtIA) gene and the mtIR gene of the PTS of Streptococcus mutans. Microbiology (2000).
  • Maurer, J J, Doggett, T A, Burns-Keliher, L, Curtiss, Roy. Expression of the rfa, LPS biosynthesis promoter in Salmonella typhimurium during invasion of intestinal epithelial cells. Curr. Microbiol (2000).
  • Stathopoulos, C, Hendrixson, D R, Thanassi, D G, Hultgren, S J, St Geme, J W, III, Curtiss, Roy. Secretion of virulence determinants by the general secretory pathway in Gram-negative pathogens: an evolving story. Microbes Infect (2000).