Nikolaos Vasilakis, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology;
Member, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases
University of Texas Medical Branch
301 University Blvd,
Galveston, TX 77555-0610
Office: (409) 266-6919
Fax: (409) 772-0460
nivasila@utmb.edu
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Professional Education
| Degree |
Institution |
Field of Study |
Graduation Year |
| B.A. |
Hofstra University |
Biology |
1988 |
| M.A. |
Hofstra University |
Biology |
1992 |
| Ph.D. |
University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX |
Experimental Pathology |
2007 |
| Postdoctoral |
University of Pittsburgh |
Vaccine Development |
2009 |
Honors
| 2001 |
Wyeth – Ayerst Research ‘Above and Beyond’ Award |
| 2006 |
Who’s Who Among Students in American Universities and Colleges |
| 2007 |
Robert L. Harrison Award for Molecular/Cell Biology Research |
| 2007 |
American Society of Virology Travel Award to attend 26th ASV – Corvallis, OR |
| 2007 |
Dennis Bowman Memorial Scholarship Award |
| 2008 |
American Society of Virology Travel Award to attend XVIth ICV – Istambul |
| 2008 |
The Fine Foundation Scholar |
| 2008 |
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene, Young Investigator Award |
Professional Affiliations
| 1988-2007 |
American Association for the Advancement of Science |
| 1989-1992 |
Beta Beta Beta Biological Honor Society, Alpha Lambda Chapter |
| 1999-Present |
American Society for Virology, Full member |
| 2003-Present |
American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene |
| 2003-Present |
American Committee on Arthropod-borne Viruses (ACAV) |
| 2003-Present |
American Committee on Medical Entomology (ACME) |
Research Interests
- Basic research on evolution and pathogenesis of arthropod-borne viruses, virus – mosquito, virus – host interactions and vaccine development
- Role of viral quasispecies in transmission dynamics and emergence
- Use of proteomics to understand the host response and progression to severe disease during dengue virus infection
- Development of humanized murine animal models for arboviroses
Selected Publications
ARTICLES IN PEER-REVIEWED JOURNALS:
- Vasilakis, N.; Cardosa, J.; Diallo, M.; Sall, A.A.; Holmes, E.C.; Hanley, K.A.; Weaver, S.C. Sylvatic Dengue Viruses Share the Pathogenic Potential of Urban Dengue Viruses. J. Virol. 84:3726-3727; 2010 [PMID: 20212326]
- Vasilakis, N.; Deardorff, E.R.; Kenney, J.; Rossi, S.L.; Hanley, K.A.; Weaver, S.C. Mosquitoes Put the Brake on Evolution: Experimental Evolution Reveals Slower Mutation Accumulation in Mosquito Cells than Vertebrate Cells. PLoS Pathogens, 5(6):e1000467; 2009 [PMID: 19503824] [PMCID: PMC2685980]
- Tang, X.; Li, G.; Vasilakis, N.; Zhang, Y.; Shi, Z.; Zhong, Y.; Wang, L-F.; Zhang, S. Differential Stepwise Evolution of SARS Coronavirus Functional Proteins in Different Host Species. BMC Evol. Biol. 9:52; 2009 [PMID: 19261195][PMCID: PMC2676248]
- Vasilakis, N.; Durbin, A.; Travassos da Rosa, A.A.P.; Munoz-Jordan, J.; Tesh, R.B.; Weaver, S.C. Antigenic Relationships between Sylvatic and Endemic Dengue Viruses. Am. J. Trop. Med. Hyg. 79:128-132; 2008 [PMID: 18606776]
- Vasilakis, N.; Fokam, E.B.; Hanson, C.T.; Weinberg, E.; Sall, A.A.; Whitehead, S.S.; Hanley, K.A.; Weaver, S.C. Genetic and Phenotypic Characterization of Sylvatic Dengue Virus Type 2 Strains. Virology 377:296-307; 2008 [PMID: 18570968]
- Coffey, L.L.; Vasilakis, N.; Brault, A.C.; Powers, A.; Tripet, F.; Weaver, S.C. Arbovirus Evolution in vivo is Constrained by Host Alternation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 105:6970 – 6975; 2008 [PMID: 18458341][PMCID: PMC2383930]
- Vasilakis, N.; Tesh, R.B.; Weaver, S.C. Sylvatic Dengue Virus Type 2 Activity in Humans, Nigeria, 1966. Emerg. Infect. Dis. 14:502 – 504; 2008 [PMID: 18325274][PMCID: PMC2570833]
- Vasilakis, N.; Holmes, E.C.; Fokam, E.B.; Faye, O.; Diallo, M.; Sall, A.A.; Weaver, S.C. Evolutionary Processes among Sylvatic Dengue-2 Viruses. J. Virol. 81:9591 – 9595; 2007 [PMID: 17553878][PMCID: 1951459]
- Vasilakis, N.; Shell, E.J.; Fokam, E.F.; Mason, P.W.; Hanley, K.A.; Estes, D.M.; Weaver, S.C. Potential of Ancestral Dengue-2 Viruses to Re-emerge. Virology 358:402 – 412; 2007 [PMID: 17014880]
- Vasilakis, N.; Falvey, D.; Gangolli, S.; Coleman, J.; Kowalski, J.; Zamb, T.; Udem, S.A.; Kovacs, G.R. Transfection – independent Production of Alphavirus Replicon Particles Based on Poxvirus Expression Vectors. Nature Biotechnology 21:932 – 935; 2003 [PMID: 12845329]
- Kovacs, G.R.; Parks, C.L.; Vasilakis, N.; Udem, S.A. Enhancement of Genetic Rescues of a Mononegavirus Using a Novel Modified Vaccinia Virus Ankara-T7 Polymerase Vector and DNA Replication Inhibitors. J. Virol. Methods 111:29 – 36; 2003 [PMID: 12821194]
- Gangolli, S.G.; Vasilakis, N.; Kovacs, G.R.; Zamb, T.J.; Kowalski, J. A Method of Alphavirus Replicon Particle Titration Based on Expression of Functional Replicase/Transcriptase. J. Virol. Methods 109:133 – 138; 2003 [PMID: 12711055]
- Parks, C. L.; Wang, H.-P.; Kovacs, G. R.; Vasilakis, N.; Kowalski, J.; Nowak, R. M.; Lerch, R.A.; Walpita, P.; Sidhu, M.S.; Udem, S.A. Expression of a Foreign Gene by Recombinant Canine Distemper Virus Recovered from Cloned DNAs. Virus Research 83:131 – 147; 2002 [PMID: 11864746]
- Kovacs, G.R.; Vasilakis, N.; Moss, B. Regulation of Viral Intermediate Gene Expression by the Vaccinia Virus B1 Protein Kinase. J. Virol. 75: 4048 – 4055; 2001 [PMID: 11287554] [PMCID: 114150]
BOOK CHAPTERS:
- Vasilakis, N. and Weaver, S.C. (2008). The History and Evolution of Human Dengue Emergence. In: Maramorosch, K., Murphy, F.A. and Shatkin, A.J., Eds. Advances in Virus Research, vol. 72, pp. 1-76; Academic Press, Burlington, USA. ISBN: 978-0-12-374322-0 [PMID: 19081488]
- Vasilakis, N.; Hanley, K.A.; Weaver, S.C. (2010). Dengue Virus Emergence from its Sylvatic Cycle. In: "Frontiers in Dengue Virus Research” (Hanley, K.A. and Weaver, S.C., Eds). Caister Academic Press, Norwich, UK. ISBN: 978-1-904455-50-9
NIH Biosketch
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