Ellen Collisson, PhD
Professor, Microbiology

Educational Background

• B.S., 1968, University of Illinois, Urbana Microbiology
• M.S., 1978, University of Alabama, Birmingham Medical Center, Microbiology
• Ph.D., 1980, University of Alabama, Birmingham Medical Center Microbiology

Professional Experience and Academic Appointments

• 2007 to present; Professor, Western University College of Veterinary Medicine
• 1996-2007; Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Member of the Faculties of Genetics, Professional Program in Biotechnology, and Virology, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
• 1990-1996; Associate Professor, Department of Veterinary Pathobiology, Member of Genetics Faculty, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
• 1985-1990; Assistant Professor, Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Parasitology, Member of Genetics Faculty, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX.
• 1981-1984; Research Associate, Microbiologist, Molecular Virologist, USDA, ARS, Denver, CO.
• 1980-1981; Post-Doctoral Fellow, Molecular Virologist, University of Alabama Medical Center, Birmingham, AL.
• 1978; MS and 1980; PhD in Microbiology, University of Alabama Medical Center in Birmingham
• 1968-1971; Secondary School Science Teacher, Peace Corps Volunteer in Malawi, Africa and Ghana, Africa.

Other Professional Responsibilities

Board of Directors

• Council for the Frontiers of Knowledge, Makerere University, Uganda
• Friends of Malawi, U.S. based non-profit organization dedicated to the development of Malawi

Editorial Boards

• Virus Genes
• Journal Biomedicine & Biotechnology

Grant Reviewer

• United States Department of Agriculture, National Science Foundation, National Institutes of Health

Personal Teaching Philosophy

Scholarly Interests

Publications

Selected Publications since 2003

• Pei, J, Briles, WE & Collisson, EW. 2003. Memory T cells protect chicks from acute infectious bronchitis virus infection, Virology, 206:376-384.
• Winslow, BJ, Cochran, MD, Holzenburg, A, Sun, J, Junger, DE & Collisson, EW. 2003. Replication and expression of a swinepox virus vector delivering feline leukemia virus gag and env to cell lines of swine and feline origin. Virus Res. 98(1):1-15.
• Phadke, AP, Choi, IS, Li, Z, Weaver EA and Collisson, EW. 2004. Role of inducer cells and cell-cell contact in mediating non-cytolytic suppression of feline immunodeficiency virus in vitro. Virology, 320:63-74.
• Brooks JE, Rainer, AC, Parr, RL, Woolcock, P, Hoerr & Collisson, EW. 2004 Comparisons of the membrane gene of various strains of avian infectious bronchitis virus show evidence of recombination. Virus Res, Mar;100(2):191-8.
• Weaver, EA, Collisson, EW (corresponding author), Slater, M. & Zhu, G,. 2004. Phylogenetic analyses of Texas isolates imply the emergence of a new feline immunodeficiency virus clade. J Virol, 78;2158-63.
• Vahlenkamp, TW, Bull ME, Dow JL, Collisson EW, Winslow BJ, Phadke AP, Tompkins WA, Tompkins MB. 2004. B7CTLA4 T cells engage in T-T cell interactions that mediate apoptosis: a model for lentivirus-induced T cell depletion. Vet Immun Immunopath, 98(3-4):203-14.
• Bull, ME, Vahlenkamp, TW, dow, JL, Collisson, EW, Winslow, BJ, Phadke, AP, Tompkins, MB and Tompkins, WAF. 2004. Spontaneous T cell apoptosis in feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-infected cats is inhibtied by IL2 and anti-B7.1 antibodies. Vet Immun Immunopath, 99:25-37.
• Pei, J & Collisson, EW. 2005. Specific antibody secreting cells from chickens can be detected by three days and memory B cells by three weeks post-infection with the avian respiratory coronavirus. Devel Comp Immunol, 29:153-160.
• Youn, SJ, Leibowitz, J & Collisson, EW. 2005. In vitro Assembled, Recombinant Infectious Bronchitis Viruses Demonstrate that the 5a Open Reading Frame is not Essential For Replication in Vero Cells. Virology, 332:206-215.
• Li, Z, Weaver, EA, Phadke, A, Ball, j, Wolf, AM & Collisson, EW. 2005. Feline CD8+ T Cells Induced with Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Infected, T Cells Produce Multiple, Anti-FIV Factors, Devel Comp Immunol, 332:206-215.
• Jayaram, J, Youn, S & Collisson, EW. 2005. The virion infectious bronchitis virus N protein is more phosphorylated than the N protein from infected cell lysates. Virology, 339:127-135.
• Youn, SJ, Collisson, EW & Machamer, CE. 2005. Contribution of trafficking signals in the cytoplasmic tail of the infectious bronchitis virus spike protein to virus infection. Virology, 332:206-215.
• Winslow, BJ, Kalabat, DY, Brown, SM, Cocran, MD & Collisson, EW. 2005. Feline B7.1 and B7.2 proteins produced from swinepox virus vectors are natively processed and biologically active. Vet Micro, 111:1-13.
• Bohls, R, Ferro, PJ, Smith, R, Li, Z, Silvy, N & Collisson, EW. 2006. The use of flow cytometry to discriminate avian lymphocytes from contaminating thrombocyte. Devel Comp Immunol 30:843-850.
• Phadke, A, de la Concha-Bermejillo, A, Wolf, AM, Andersen, PR, Baladandayuthapani, V & Collisson, EW. 2006. Pathogenesis of a Texas feline immunodeficiency virus isolate: An emerging subtype of clade B, Vet. Micro, 114:64-76.
• Bohls, RL, Linares, JA, Gross, SL, Ferro, PJ, Silvy, NJ and Collisson, EW. 2006. Phylogenetic Analyses Indicate Little Variation Among Reticuloendotheliosis Viruses Infecting Avian Species, Including the Endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken. Virus Res, 119:187-194.
• Hariharan, J, Fan, H , Bowman, BR, Ooi, A, Jayaram, J, Collisson, EW, Julian, L, Prasad, BVV. 2006. X-ray structures of the N and C-terminal domains of a coronavirus N protein: Structural basis of nucleocapsid formation. Journal Virology, 80:6612-6620.
• Bolhs, RL, Collisson, EW, Silvy, NJ and Phalen, D. 2006. Pathogenesis of reticuloendotheliosis virus in the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken. Avian Diseases, 50:613-9.
• Collisson, EW and Bohls, RL. 2006. Development of regents for the study of reticuloendotheliosis virus in the endangered Attwater's praire chicken. 55th Western Poultry Disease, Annual Meeting. March, Sacramento, CA.
• Youn, S, Collisson, EW, & Machamer, CE. 2006. Transcriptional regulation of RNA3 of infectious bronchitis virus. Adv Exp Med Biol. 2006;581:109-12.
• Collisson, EW, Singh, S & Omran, T. 2007. Developments in avian influenza virus vaccines. Invited review, J Poultry Sci. , 44 (No.3):238-257.
• Collisson, EW, Drechsler, Y & Singh, S. 2008. Evolving vaccine choices for the continuously evolving avian influenza virus. Invited review, CAP Reviews: Perspectives in Agriculture, Veterinary Medicine, Nutrition and Natural Resourses, in press.
• Drechsler, Y, Bohls, RL, Smith, R, Silvy, N, Lillehoj, H, and Collisson, EW.2009. An avian, oncogenic retrovirus replicates in vivo in more than fiftey percent of CD4 and CD8 T lymphocytes from an endangered grouse. Virology, 386:380-386.
• Smith AG, Jayaram J, Johnson CB, Ellis EA, Vitha S, Collisson EW, Holzenburg A.2009. Improved protein detection using cold microwave technology. Methods Mol Biol. 2009;536:533-43.
• Singh S, Briles WE, Lupiani B, Collisson, EW. Avian influenza viral nucleocapsid and hemagglutinin proteins induce chicken CD8+ T lymphoycte responses. Submitted to Virology.

Research Funding

Past Funding since 2003

• 2002-2003 PI. Baylor Center for AIDS Research, "A Small Animal Model for AIDS" $40,000
• 2002-2003 PI, U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, "Construction of an IBV Molecular Clone for Vaccine Development and Gene Delivery," $41,000.
• 2003-2004 PI, NIH NIAID, Reagents and Reference Reagent Program, "Anti-viral factors from stimulated T cells, $21,873.
• 2003-2004 PI, IDEXX Corporation- "Pathogenesis Study for a New Clade of FIV," 48,500.
• 2005. Co-In, National Wildlife Services. Developing strategies to control REV in the endangered Attwater's prairie chicken. $3000.
• 2005-2006 Co-In, Blanca Lupiani as PI USDA CAP grant, Developing recombinant vaccines for avian influenza virus, $60,000
• 2006 PI, Pfizer, proprietary research, $38,000.
• 2005-2007 Co-In, Mark Westhusin as PI, "Production of new models for biomedical research by RNAi," $400,000 for 2 years.
• 2006-2007 Co-P.I., P.I. Cheng Kao, NIH NIAID, "Activities of the SARS endonuclease," $250,000.

Current Funding

• 2005-2009 PI, USDA competitive grant, "Maximizing the memory T cell response to avian influenza virus." $350,000, 2006-2009.
• 2006-2011 PI, Federal Wildlife Service, "Controlling for the REV Threat to the Endangered Attwater's Prairie Chicken," $50,000/year for 5 years ($250,000).
• 2007-2010 Co-Inv- USDA-NRI, Mark Westhusisin PI. "Endogenous gene silencing by RNA interference: A new and effective method to study functional genomics in livestock species," $449,209.
• 2007-2010 Co-Inv-USDA Avian Influenza Cooperative Agriculture Program. PI-Haroldo Toro (Auburn University), "Non-replicating adenovirus vaccines for avian influenza," $101,940.
• 2008-2010 PI-USDA Avian Influenza Cooperative Agriculture Program. "Avian Influenza Education for Families with Backyard Poultry in Southern California," $83,915.
• 2008-1011 PI, USDA-NRI, Competitive grants program, "Impact of immune responses of chickens with defined B haplotypes on resistance to respiratory coronavirus infection." $375,000.

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