Flu expert
Frackville native Dr. John R. Teijaro has become a national leader in the research of what causes select patients to have more severe complications of flu, and how best to treat and prevent those complications.
Dr. Teijaro, son of John and Mary Teijaro, Frackville, is a graduate of North Schuylkill High School. He was among three scientists at The Scripps Research Institute that have mapped key elements of a severe immune overreaction - a "cytokine storm" - that can both sicken and kill patients who are infected with certain strains of flu virus.
Their findings, published in this week's online Early Edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, also clarify the workings of a potent new class of anti-inflammatory compounds that prevent this immune overreaction in animal models.
"We show that with this type of drug, we can quiet the storm enough to interfere with the virus-induced disease and lung injury, while still allowing the infected host to mount a sufficient immune response to eliminate the virus," Teijaro, an assistant professor in TSRI's Department of Immunology and Microbial Science and first author of the study, said.
"This study provides insights into mechanisms that are chemically tractable and can modulate these cytokine storms," said Hugh Rosen, professor in TSRI's Department of Chemical Physiology and senior author of the study with Michael B. A. Oldstone, professor in TSRI's Department of Immunology and Microbial Science.
For the past eight years, Rosen's and Oldstone's laboratories have collaborated in analyzing the cytokine storm and finding treatments for it. In 2011, led by Teijaro, who was then a research associate in the Oldstone Lab, the TSRI team identified endothelial cells lining blood vessels in the lungs as the central orchestrators of the cytokine storm and immune cell infiltration during H1N1 flu infection.
In addition to Teijaro, Rosen and Oldstone, the co-authors of the study, "Mapping the innate signaling cascade essential for cytokine storm during influenza virus infection," were Kevin B. Walsh and Stephanie Rice, both of the Oldstone laboratory during the study.
Club graduates
Hidden Creek Pony Club, Schuylkill Haven, congratulates its 2014 graduating seniors, Kirstin Bauer, Schuylkill Haven Area High School, daughter of Walter and Brenda Bauer, Auburn, and Michaela Connors, Pottsville Area High School, daughter of Paul and Donna Connors, Pottsville.
As members of the United States Pony Clubs, Kirstin and Michaela compete in horseback riding disciplines that include dressage, eventing and show jumping. They also serve as mentors to younger riders at Dandelion Farm, Schuylkill Haven, which hosts their local USPC Club, Hidden Creek Pony Club.
Kirstin and Michaela are accomplished athletes, competing throughout the year at local and regional levels, and last year qualified to compete and place nationally at the 2013 USPC Championships in Lexington, Virginia.
Kirstin has ridden since age 13 and currently owns and rides Noel, a bay thoroughbred mare. Michaela began riding at age eight and owns Thor, a draft-cross gelding.
Their relationship with horses and Hidden Creek Pony Club will continue as Kirstin pursues equine medicine at Penn State Schuylkill campus, and Michaela will attend the Joseph F. McCloskey School of nursing at Schuylkill Health, Pottsville.