Jack Edwards Jr., MD
Investigator, The Lundquist Institute
Professor of Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA
Chief, Division of Infectious Diseases, Harbor-UCLA Medical Center
Principal Scientific Co-founder and Scientific Advisor for NovaDigm Therapeutics
Contact
Email
Pathogenesis and therapy of fungal infectious diseases
Research Description
Dr. Edwards' research focuses on understanding the cellular and molecular mechanisms of antimicrobial host defense, principally those caused by the fungus Candida, one of the most common causes of life-threatening blood infections in hospitalized patients. Dr. Edwards and his group have focused their research efforts to understand the interactions between C. albicans, endothelial cells, and immune responses. These interactions determine how Candida exploits the vascular compartment to invade deeper organ tissues. The advances made in Dr. Edwards' lab revealed specific proteins that could be used as vaccine candidates. Dr. Edwards and his team are currently optimizing the safety and efficacy of such targets as new vaccines. They have recently completed and published the first clinical trial showing a signal of efficacy in humans of an active fungal vaccine. With his work he hopes to dramatically advance the development of new anti-fungal agents and immunotherapies to prevent and treat life-threatening infections.Theme Groups
Research Interests
Education
- MD, 1968, University Of California, Irvine
Recent and/or Significant Publications
Edwards JE, Jr, Schwartz, MM, Schmidt CS, et al. A fungal Immunotherapeutic vaccine (NDV-3A) for treatment of recurrent vulvovaginal candidiasis; A phase 2 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. 2018, In Press, Clinical Infectious Diseases
Gebremariam T, Liu M, Luo G, et al. CotH3 mediates fungal invasion of host cells during mucormycosis. J Clin Invest 2014;124:237-50. PMCID PMC3871245
Liu M, Spellberg B, Phan QT, et al. The endothelial cell receptor GRP78 is required for mucormycosis pathogenesis in diabetic mice. J Clin Invest 2010;120:1914-24.PMCID PMC2877958
Spellberg B, Ibrahim AS, Yeaman MR, et al. The antifungal vaccine derived from the recombinant N terminus of Als3p protects mice against the bacterium Staphylococcus aureus. Infect Immun 2008;76:4574-80 PMCID PMC2546811
Phan QT, Myers CL, Fu Y, et al. Als3 is a Candida albicans invasin that binds to cadherins and induces endocytosis by host cells. PLoS Biol 2007;5(3):e64. PMCID PMC1802757