Research
The focus of our laboratory is utilizing adenovirus for molecular medicine applications. In this regard, the unique molecular promiscuity of adenovirus allows directed engineering to modify key factors of the virus life cycle and molecular structure. This capacity for directed engineering facilitates the application of adenovirus-based interventions which embody vaccinology, gene therapy, and virotherapy. Our technical focus also projects our work fully within the context of fundamental virology. In parallel, our molecular medicine applications place our work the advanced guard of the emerging field of “vectorology.” These efforts to address key application barriers provides the basis of our extensive network of collaborations that engage our laboratory in the widest range of applied contexts. The strong translational rationale predicated by these collaborations provides the basis of our unique “bench-to-bed” ethos.
Education
Dr. Curiel also serves as Director of the Biologic Therapeutics Center (BTC). The mission of the BTC is to foster bench-to-bed translation at Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine (WUSM). This embodies educational activities to spearhead interest in translational therapeutics and overseeing critical infrastructure to facilitate ongoing bench-to-bed enterprises here at Washington University.
At the center of the educational mission is the Biologic Therapeutics Center’s Translational Research Seminar Series, now entering its fifth year. The seminar series brings to WUSM nationally and internationally renowned translational investigators. This aegis embodies themes that are cross-departmental and interdisciplinary but unified by their bench-to-bed ethos. Most recently, the BTC hosted the International Society for the Cell and Gene Therapy of Cancer (ISCGT) in Amsterdam.
In addition, Dr. Curiel is currently spearheading efforts to form the Washington University in St. Louis, School of Medicine, Auburn University, University of Missouri, Columbia, Center for One Medicine (WAMCOM). This “virtual” center is a collaborative partnership among three preeminent research institutions. The center’s mission is based on the emerging concept of “One Health” focusing on the health linkages among humans, animals, and their shared environments with a focus on the area of comparative clinical oncology in humans and companion canines.
Focus
- Anti-angiogenesis Gene Therapy
- Camelid Antibody Re-targeted Virotherapy
- Dendritic Cell Targeted Adenovirus Vaccines
- Vector in Companion Canine
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