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College Researcher Receives $2 Million Grant

ALBANY, N.Y., August 22, 2007 - James Drake, Ph.D., associate professor in the Center for Immunology and Microbial Disease at Albany Medical College, has received a $1.96 million, five-year grant from the National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Disease for his research on the immune system. The grant is just about the largest amount the NIAID awards to an individual investigator.

Dr. Drake's research is focused on the role of cellular pathways in fighting infection with an eye toward the development of better vaccines.

 When invaders enter our bodies, be they viruses or bacteria, our B-cells go to work. They open up their doors to dangerous strangers, bringing them to a 'processing lab' located at the center of the B-cell, dissect them, and then present the pieces to their helpers, T-cells, to let them know what they're dealing with. Then the two launch an all-out attack against these invaders by producing antibodies.

This immune system response is not only what helps us fight disease naturally, but is also what makes vaccination (purposeful exposure to an attenuated or killed germ to increase immunity) work.

This interaction between invaders "antigens" and B-cells, also known as B-lymphocytes, is well understood as a whole. However, science has yet to fully explain the process on a very basic, molecular level. Dr. Drake's mission is to discover more about the intricate details of this process, with the ultimate fruits of his labor being the development of more efficient and effective vaccines.

"B-cells actually have two entry 'doors,' named 'coated pit' and 'lipid raft.' Various antigens (components of viruses or bacteria) are brought into one of these two doors by the cell's 'butler,' a B-cell receptor residing on the surface of the B-cell, who ushers them in and leads them to a processing area where the B-cell breaks them down in an effort to generate pieces to show to helper T cells," Dr. Drake says. And while it might not seem to matter which door they go through, Dr. Drake's lab has established that it does matter. According to Dr. Drake, if researchers can figure out how the B-cell receptor selects a doorway, it will help in someday developing more effective and efficient vaccines.

"Some vaccine makers have been experimenting with what's called sub-unit vaccines. These use just a small piece of a microbe, rather than a whole pathogen. Such vaccines would be easier to make, keep and could possibly have fewer side effects. However, success has been limited. One problem might be that the smaller antigen subunits are entering the wrong door into the B-cell and then going nowhere, so no immune response is triggered. But if we can look at a particular piece of antigen and understand which door it should enter to get to the processing center, we should be able to modify it slightly to cause it to enter the right door and thus engineer a better vaccine," says Dr. Drake.

He emphasizes that his lab is not working on making specific vaccines, rather his work is basic science research that will lay important groundwork to help those who are trying to develop new vaccines.

"It's important because there are still many things on a basic level that we don't know about our immune system. But understanding each piece of the puzzle helps us in disease-fighting efforts down the road," says Dr. Drake.