David J. Topham, Ph.D.

Contact Information

Phone Numbers

Administrative: (585) 273-1400

Office: (585) 273-1403

Fax: (585) 273-2452

Faculty Appointments

Professor - Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology (SMD)
Marie Curran Wilson and Joseph Chamberlain Wilson Professorship - Department of Microbiology and Immunology , Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology (SMD)
Director, Translational Immunology and Infectious Diseases Institute - Department of Microbiology and Immunology (SMD) - Joint

Biography

Professional Background

David Topham joined the faculty at the University of Rochester Medical Center in 1999 and was appointed in 2009 as Vice Provost and Executive Director of the Health Science Center for Computational Innovation (HSCCI), a partnership between the University and IBM. As Executive Director of the HSCCI, Dr. Topham's responsibility is to support collaboration in biomedical research using High Performance Computational Resources. He will bring together academic biomedical and health-related Research Investigators, High Performance Computational Biologists, and HP Research Computing resources. Dr. Topham provides strategic direction to the HSCCI and facilitates the development of research projects between UR scientists and its corporate partners, as well as support from state and federal agencies.

Dr. Topham is a tenured Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, a member of the David H. Smith Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology. He was Director and PI of the Respiratory Pathogens Research Center from 2011-2018. He also served as Director and PI of the New York Influenza Center of Excellence--one of the six national Centers of Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance supported by the National Institutes of Health, which ran from 2007-2021. He was recently appointed as the Founding Director of the University of Rochester Translational Immunology and Infectious Disease Institute. His research interests are in the area of immune responses to influenza and experimental vaccines and include computational modeling of the immune system.

Research

Virus infections of the respiratory tract are responsible for a great deal of illness and even death among the world's human population. Influenza and now coronaviruses, in particular, have a history of causing deadly pandemics and the continuing emergence of highly pathogenic H5 and H7 influenzas around the world is reason for concern. It is essential to understand how the immune system clears a virus infection and provides long term immunity if we are to design more rational vaccination and treatment strategies. The lab has a combined program in basic research using animal models of influenza infection and immunity, as well as a translational research program to study human immune responses to influenza and coronavirus infection and vaccination. Within these programs we are investigating the mechanisms that provide optimal immune protection against these viruses. One particular focus is to understand how T cells are regulated in the environment of the lung tissue and airways. We believe this is the key to generating long-lived protective immunity against diverse influenza viruses and coronavirus variants, including potential pandemic strains. The concepts and information we gather from the animal models are being directly translated into the human situation. To this end, we have established University of Rochester Translational Immunology and Infectious Disease Institute, a robust, collaborative program for basic and translational investigation of virology, pathogenesis, immunology, and vaccines.

Credentials

Education

1986
BS | University of Vermont
Biology

1992
MS | University of Vermont
Pathology

1994
PhD | University of Vermont
Cellular/Molecular Biology

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

1994 - 1999
St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, Department of Immunology (Mentor, Peter C. Doherty)

Awards

2001
Scholar
Sponsor: Nathan Shock Center for the Study of Aging and Development
Location: University of Rochester

Patents

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: ZL200980125645.5
Issue Date: Mar 22, 2017
Country: China, People's Republic of
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: 2286223
Issue Date: Jul 06, 2016
Country: Europe
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: FR2286223
Issue Date: Jul 06, 2016
Country: France
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: 60200903959
Issue Date: Jul 06, 2016
Country: Germany
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: CH2286223
Issue Date: Jul 06, 2016
Country: Switzerland/Liechtenstein
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: GB2286223
Issue Date: Jul 06, 2016
Country: United Kingdom
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System for Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: 9,217,745
Issue Date: Dec 22, 2015
Country: United States
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

Patent Title: Arrayed Detector System For Measurement of Influenza Immune Response
Patent #: 8,486,619
Issue Date: Jul 16, 2013
Country: United States
Invented By: Charles R Mace, Benjamin Locke Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

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Publications

Journal Articles

12/28/2021
McCall MN, Chu CY, Wang L, Benoodt L, Thakar J, Corbett A, Holden-Wiltse J, Slaunwhite C, Grier A, Gill SR, Falsey AR, Topham DJ, Caserta MT, Walsh EE, Qiu X, Mariani TJ. "A systems genomics approach uncovers molecular associates of RSV severity." PLoS computational biology.. 2021 Dec 28; 17(12):e1009617. Epub 2021 Dec 28.

11/10/2021
Young BE, Seppo AE, Diaz N, Rosen-Carole C, Nowak-Wegrzyn A, Cruz Vasquez JM, Ferri-Huerta R, Nguyen-Contant P, Fitzgerald T, Sangster MY, Topham DJ, Järvinen KM. "Association of Human Milk Antibody Induction, Persistence, and Neutralizing Capacity With SARS-CoV-2 Infection vs mRNA Vaccination." JAMA pediatrics.. 2021 Nov 10; Epub 2021 Nov 10.

11/9/2021
Yee Mon KJ, Zhu H, Daly CWP, Vu LT, Smith NL, Patel R, Topham DJ, Scheible K, Jambo K, Le MTN, Rudd BD, Grimson A. "MicroRNA-29 specifies age-related differences in the CD8+ T cell immune response." Cell reports.. 2021 Nov 9; 37(6):109969.

Books & Chapters

2009
Chapter Title: The Role of VLA-1 in Maintaining Virus-specific T cells in Peripheral Non-lymphoid Tissues
Book Title: Effector Memory T cell Subsets in the Extralymphatic Tissue
Author List: David J. Topham, Timothy R. Chapman, Martin Richter, and Joseph A. Hollenbaugh
Edited By: Ilan Bank
Published By: Research Signpost 2009 in Kerala, India

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