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)

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 an Associate Professor of Microbiology and Immunology, a member of the David H. Smith Center for Vaccine Biology and Immunology, and co-directs 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. He has also served on IBM's Global Pandemic Steering Committee. 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, in particular, has a history of causing deadly pandemics and the continuing emergence of highly pathogenic H5 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 infection and vaccination. Within these programs we are investigating the mechanisms that provide optimal immune protection against influenza virus. 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, 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 the New York Influenza Center of Excellence, a robust, collaborative program for basic and translational investigation of influenza 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 L 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 L 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 L 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 L 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 L 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 L 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 L 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 L Miller, Tim R Mosmann, David J Topham

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Publications

Journal Articles

9/14/2020
Grier A, Gill AL, Kessler HA, Corbett A, Bandyopadhyay S, Java J, Holden-Wiltse J, Falsey AR, Topham DJ, Mariani TJ, Caserta MT, Walsh EE, Gill SR. "Temporal Dysbiosis of Infant Nasal Microbiota Relative to Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection." The Journal of infectious diseases.. 2020 Sep 14; Epub 2020 Sep 14.

9/14/2020
Chu CY, Qiu X, McCall MN, Wang L, Corbett A, Holden-Wiltse J, Slaunwhite C, Grier A, Gill SR, Pryhuber GS, Falsey AR, Topham DJ, Caserta MT, Walsh EE, Mariani TJ. "Airway gene expression correlates of RSV disease severity and microbiome composition in infants." The Journal of infectious diseases.. 2020 Sep 14; Epub 2020 Sep 14.

9/11/2020
Gouma S, Kim K, Weirick ME, Gumina ME, Branche A, Topham DJ, Martin ET, Monto AS, Cobey S, Hensley SE. "Middle-aged individuals may be in a perpetual state of H3N2 influenza virus susceptibility." Nature communications.. 2020 Sep 11; 11(1):4566. Epub 2020 Sep 11.

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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