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Gelfand LAB

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Mission Statement:

To apply evolving knowledge of immunology, pharmacology, and light- based mechanisms to create novel therapeutic approaches for immune, cancer, and infectious diseases.

Research Focus:

Create devices and therapeutics to address longstanding clinical deficiencies and therapeutic needs

VIC Projects List

  • Development of clinically adaptable devices employing light based therapy and light-based enhancement of antimicrobial substances to highly resistant wound organisms and chronic infections.
  • Development of laser adjuvant approaches to the enhancement of intradermal vaccines for infectious diseases and cancers.
  • Development of a self- assembling vaccine for the rapid creation of peptide-based vaccines for infectious diseases as well as the development of personalized cancer vaccines to guide the immunotherapy of cancers.
  • Development of heat shock protein based antibody fusion for the immunotherapy of cancer.
  • Development of approaches to using photon energy to augment antibiotic function.

Highlighted Publications

An antimicrobial blue light device reduces bacterial bioburden in heavily contaminated wounds infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) in a proof-of-concept, preclinical porcine model.

Laisa Bonafim Negri1,2,3,4, William Farinelli1,3, Sandeep Korupolu1,3, Ying Wang1,3, Yara Mannaa1,2,3, Hang Lee3,4, Jie Hui1,2,3,4, Pu-Ting Dong5, Joshua Tam 1,3,4, R. Rox Anderson1,3,4, Seok-Hyun Andy Yun1,3,4, Jeffrey A. Gelfand1

Vitamin K3 (Menadione) is a Multifunctional Microbicide acting as a Photosensitizer and Synergizing with Blue Light to Kill Drug-Resistant Bacteria in Biofilms.

Journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology B: Biology. 2023 May;244:112720.
Negri LB, Mannaa Y, Korupolu S, Farinelli WA, Anderson RR, Gelfand JA.

Photoinactivation of Moraxella Catarrhalis Using 405-nm Blue Light: Implications for the Treatment of Otitis Media.

Photochem Photobiol. 2020 May; 96(3):611-617. PMID: 32105346.
Liu X, Chang Q, Ferrer-Espada R, Leanse LG, Goh XS, Wang X, Gelfand JA, Dai T. 

A Pilot Clinical Trial of a Near–Infrared Laser Vaccine Adjuvant: Safety, Tolerability, and Cutaneous Immune Cell Trafficking.

FASEB J. 2019 Feb;33(2):3074-3081. Doi: 10.1096/fj.201801095R. PMID: 30192655
Gelfand JA, Nazarian R, Kashiwagi S, Brauns T, Martin B, Kimizuka Y, Botvinick E , Elkins K,   Thomas L, Locascio J, Parry B, Kelly KM, Poznansky MC.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy Mediated By Methylene Blue And Potassium Iodide To Treat Urinary Tract Infection In A Female Rat Model.

Sci Rep. 2018 May 8;8(1):7257. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-25365-0. PMID: 29740035 Huang YY, Wintner A, Seed PC, Brauns TA, Hamblin MR, Gelfand JA. 

Tetracyclines Function As Dual-Action Light-Activated Antibiotics.

PLoS One. 2018 May 9;13(5):e0196485. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196485. PMID: 29742128
He Y, Huang YY, Liyan X, Gelfand JA*, Hamblin MR*. Tetracyclines function as dual-action light-activated antibiotics.

Antimicrobial Photodynamic Inactivation Mediated By Tetracyclines In Vitro And In Vivo: Photochemical Mechanisms And Potentiation By Potassium Iodide.

Sci Rep. 2018 Nov 20.;8:17130. doi: 10.1038/s41598-018-35594-y PMCID: PMC6244358 Weijun Xuan, Ya He, Liyi Huang, Ying-Ying Huang, Brijesh Bhayana, Liyan Xi, Jeffrey A. Gelfand, Michael R. Hamblin.

A Paradigm-Changing Approach for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Gonococcal Infection.

J Infect Dis. 2019 July 31; 220(5):873-881. PMID: 30629196; PMCID: PMC6667797.
Wang Y, Ferrer-Espada R, Baglo Y, Goh XS, Held KD, Grad YH, Gu Y, Gelfand JA, Dai T. 

Clinical sensitivity and Interpretation of PCR and Serological COVID-19 Diagnostics for Patients Presenting to the Hospital.

FASEB J. 2020 10; 34(10):13877-13884. PMID: 32856766; PMCID: PMC7461169.
View Full List of Lab Publications VIA PUBMED

RESEARCH TEAM

Jeffrey A Gelfand, MD

Principal Investigator

Laisa Bonafim Negri, Ph.D.

Research Fellow

Timothy Brauns, MBA

Technology Development Advisor
ALUMNI

 

 

2021 Yara Mannaa, BA, Boston University

ALUMNI

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