RESEARCH SOCIETY - Key Persons
Job Titles:
- Treasurer of the Board
- Associate Professor of Microbiology
- Treasurer / Associate Professor of Microbiology
Alison Criss, PhD, is Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Director of the University of Virginia Global Infectious Diseases Institute.Dr. Criss' laboratory investigates how Neisseria gonorrhoeaeinitiates productive infection at mucosal surfaces, recruits neutrophils during infection, and survives after challenge with neutrophils and their antimicrobial products. These studies combine cell biological, biochemical, targeted- and genome-wide, and imaging-based approaches. The laboratory is contributing to the development of a gonorrhea vaccine by analyzing vaccine-induced serum for functional antigonococcal activities through the NIH-funded Gonorrhea Vaccine Cooperative Research Center. Dr. Criss' honors include the University of VirginiaPinn Scholars Award for mid-career faculty, American Society for Microbiology Young Investigator Award, andNIH K99/R00 career transitional award. She serves on the NIH Host Interactions with Bacterial Pathogens study sectionand the editorial boards of Infection and Immunity and Frontiers in Microbiology, and is an At-Large Member of the American Society for Microbiology Committee on Microbial Sciences.Dr. Criss was on the Organizing Committee of the 2014 and 2016 International Pathogenic Neisseria Conferences and has served as a session chair and abstract reviewer for other IPNCs. Dr. Criss received her BA in Biology and Chemistry from Williams College and PhD in Cell Biology from Harvard Medical School, followed by postdoctoral research in Microbiology and Immunology at Northwestern University.
Job Titles:
- Trainee Board Member - 2021 to 2023
Job Titles:
- President
- President of the Board
Dr. Genco has a distinguished history of excellence in biomedical research. She has fostered numerous collaborations across disciplines including immunology, infectious diseases, epidemiology, biomedical engineering, and public health.Her primary research focus is in the area of chronic inflammation and the role of the microbiome in systemic inflammatory disorders. Dr. Genco's current studies include sexually transmitted infections and oral infectious diseases. Dr. Genco has authored more than 125articles in scientific journals. Her research program has been continuously supported from extramural funding from the National Institutes of Health, for which she also serves in an advisory capacity. She has also worked with Pharmaceutical companies on funded research projects, as well as in an advisory capacity.Her translational work has encompassed clinical studies evaluating immunological and microbiological responses following acute inflammatory diseases induced by sexually transmitted infections including gonorrhea. Gonorrhea, caused by the Gram-negative organism Neisseria gonorrhoeae is a disease of worldwide prevalence and the continued persistence and increased N. gonorrhoeae resistance to third generation cephalosporins is a warning for the development and spread of untreatable gonorrhea. A vaccine against gonorrhea is not yet available, despite this clear need. The long-term goal of Dr. Genco's work is to develop a vaccine to treat sexually transmitted infections with emphasis on prevention of secondary complications in women. Barriers to its development include the presence of highly variable surface antigens that lead to non-specific and often insufficient immunity as well as the lack of our understanding of bacterial antigens expressed during human mucosal disease.The long-term goal of Dr. Genco's work is to develop a vaccine to treat sexually transmitted infections with emphasis on prevention of secondary complications in women.
Job Titles:
- Assistant Professor
- Communications Director
- Member of the Board
Crista Wadsworth, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor in the Thomas H. Gosnell School of Life Sciences at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Dr. Wadsworth joined RIT in 2019 after receiving her doctoral degree from Tufts University as an NSF-GRFP Fellow (2016), and completing a postdoc at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health in the Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases with Dr. Yonatan Grad. Her postdoctoral work highlighted the importance of commensal Neisseria as reservoirs of resistance for N. gonorrhoeae, which she is currently expanding upon at RIT using experimental evolution within the classroom as a tool to flesh out the Neisseria resistome - or all mechanisms of resistance available to the genus - while simultaneously providing research opportunities for RIT undergraduates. In addition, the Wadsworth Lab at RIT is interested in identifying novel resistance mechanisms and characterizing phenotypic signatures of antibiotic susceptibility in N. gonorrhoeae. These efforts couple both experimental microbiology with ‘omics-based approaches. Dr. Wadsworth was elected Chair of the RIT College of Science Undergraduate Research Council in 2020 and is passionate about training the next generation of scientists by providing and facilitating hands-on laboratory experiences for undergraduates with real-world impacts.
Job Titles:
- Board Member - 2019 to 2020
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- Associate Research Leader at the Institute for Glycomics, Griffith
- at - Large Member
Dr Evgeny Semchenko (BSc (Hons), PhD) is an Associate Research Leader at the Institute for Glycomics, Griffith University (Australia) and has been working on pathogenic Neisseria since 2013. His key interests are characterising glycan-dependent host-pathogen interactions, investigating their role in bacterial colonization and immune evasion, drug discovery and vaccine development. Dr Semchenko's current research focuses on solving the urgent problem of multi-drug-resistant gonorrhea by discovering new therapeutics and by developing a vaccine to curb morbidity and the spread of the infection.
Dr. Michael Apicella brought together a group of about 30 gonococcal researchers after the 2018 International Pathogenic Neisseria Conference (IPNC) in Asilomar California to discuss what might be done to specifically enhance Neisseria gonorrhoeae research. There were many creative ideas discussed with the main themes of sharing research materials and approaches, establishing collaborations, promoting N. gonorrhoeae research and attracting new researchers to the field. After the meeting, Mike Apicella assembled a smaller group to discuss what could be done immediately and the group supported the concept of a Neisseria gonorrhoeae Research Society. The Mission Statement listed above the Constitution (https://ngosociety.org/society-constitution/) summarizes the goals of the Society.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- at - Large Member
- Professor in the Department of Biochemistry
Dr. Trevor Moraes is a Professor in the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Toronto (Canada), where he holds a Canada Research Chair in the Structural Biology of Membrane Proteins. Research in the Moraes lab focuses on the structural and functional characterization of surface proteins, particularly those that are involved in immune evasion or protein and ion translocation across bacterial membranes. As a biochemist and a microbiologist, the overarching goal of his research program is to understand the molecular basis of bacterial pathogenesis with the view of discovering new targets for antibiotics or vaccines. Dr. Moraes is the PI of the Protein Core within the International Center for Gonococcal Vaccine Innovation (ICGVI) supported by NIH in collaboration with Cornelissen, Gray-Owen, Schryvers, Seib, Allen, Staats and Corneli. He is also a PI of CIHR -funded projects on lipoprotein structure, function and biogenesis and Co-PI on NIH funded projects on Transferrin binding protein (Tbp) based vaccines.
Job Titles:
- Trainee Board Member - 2023 to 2024
Job Titles:
- Ex - Officio Board Member and past President
Professor Seifert received his B.S. in Chemistry from Beloit College, Beloit Wisconsin 1in 1977. After two years at the US Patent and Trademark Office as a Patent Examiner, he matriculated in the Biophysics Program at the Pennsylvania State University. He received a PhD in 1984 for work with Ronald Porter studying enhanced recombination mediated by the E. coli conjugal F factor. His postdoctoral work with Maggie So at the research Institute of Scripps Clinic in La Jolla California began his research into Neisseria gonorrhoeae. During that time he developed genetic techniques for N. gonorrhea and began his study of the pilin antigenic variation system and those subject remain as some of his laboratories' groups research concentrations. He was appointed as an Assistant professor at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in 1988 and has risen through the ranks. He was director of the Integrated Graduate Program for five years and was the Associate Chair of the Microbiology-Immunology Department for 17 years. He was the Associate Dean for Student Affairs at the Northwestern University Graduate School for three years and during that time served as the Interim Dean of the Graduate School. He has directly mentored 18 graduate students and 14 postdoctoral fellows.
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- President - Elect
- President - Elect / Associate Professor, the Ohio State University and the Center for Microbial Pathogenesis. the Abigail Wexner Research Institute at Nationwide Children 's Hospital
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- at - Large Member
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- at - Large Member
Job Titles:
- at Large Board Member - 2021 to 2023
Job Titles:
- Secretary
- Secretary of the Board
- Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Ohio University
Nathan Weyand is an Associate Professor in the Biological Sciences Department at Ohio University. He trained in the laboratories of Dr. Magdalene So and Dr. David A. Low. He has worked as a bacteriologist and cellular microbiologist since the 1990s and focused on Neisseria gonorrhoeae epithelial infection models. Dr. Weyand is working to understand the contribution of membrane-associated complement inhibitors to immune evasion strategies used by N. gonorrhoeae. As host restriction severely limits in vivo studies of pathogenic Neisseria species, he has been developing long-term pharyngeal persistence models in macaques and mice. These efforts aim to model asymptomatic carriage by pathogenic species and study conserved factors contributing to pharyngeal colonization, dissemination, and transmission. He is also working to understand how antimicrobial resistance loci influence pharyngeal persistence. Nathan teaches undergraduate and graduate students about general microbiology and gene regulation. He began serving as Ohio University's Molecular & Cellular Biology Graduate Program director in the fall of 2023. Nathan likes imaging microbial colonies. Some of his pictures can be found on Instagram @germchaser
Job Titles:
- Member of the Board
- at - Large Member