Nicola Philpott

Dr. Nicola Philpott is an Assistant Professor of Medicine in the Division of Rheumatic and Autoimmune Diseases.  She has a joint appointment in the Department of Genetics, Cell Biology and Development and has a research lab in the Institute of Human Genetics.  Dr Philpott joined the faculty at the University of Minnesota in December 2007 where she is a member of the Autoimmunity Program and the Beckman Transposon Center. 

Research Interests of Dr Nicola Philpott:

Viral vectors are very efficient gene transfer tools and are currently being used in many gene therapy trials for the treatment of hereditary disease, infectious diseases and cancer.  Long term expression of a transgene often requires integration of the gene into the human genome however random insertion can lead to adverse side effects.  Dr Philpott is interested in improving the safety of gene therapy vectors by blocking random integration and targeting integration to specific, safe sites within the genome.  She is developing adeno-associated viral (AAV) vectors that integrate into a specific site within the human genome that is not associated with any pathogenicity.  As well as elucidating the mechanism of AAV Rep-mediated integration, Dr Philpott is using this targeted integration strategy to achieve stable transgene expression in dividing cells for gene therapy.  Dr Philpott also has an interest in the development of non-integrating lentiviral vectors for stable gene delivery to non-dividing cells towards the treatment of genetic disease in post-mitotic tissue.

Selected Publications:

·         Apolonia, L., Waddington, S. N., Fernandes, C., Ward, N., J., Bouma, G., Blundell, M. P., Thrasher, A. J., Collins, M. K., Philpott, N. J.  Stable gene transfer to muscle using non-integrating lentiviral vectors.  Molecular Therapy 2007; 15(11): p1947-54.

·         Philpott, N. J., Thrasher, A. J.  Use of non-integrating lentiviral vectors for gene therapy - review.  Human Gene Therapy 2007; 18(6) p483-9.

·         Schoggins, J. W., Nociari, M., Philpott, N., Falck-Pedersen, E.  Influence of fiber detargeting on adenovirus mediated innate and adaptive immune activation.  Journal of Virology 2005; 79(18): p11627-37.

·         Philpott, N. J., Nociari, M., Falck-Pedersen, E.  Autocrine TNF induction and activation of dendritic cells by adenovirus RGD-motif.  PNAS 2004; 101(16): p6200-5.

·         Philpott, N. J., Gomos, J., Falck-Pedersen, E.  Transgene expression after Rep-mediated site-specific integration into chromosome 19.  Human Gene Therapy 2004; 15(1): p47-61.

·         Cannon, M., Philpott, N. J., Cesarman, E.  The KSHV G protein-coupled receptor has broad signaling effects in primary effusion lymphoma cells.  Journal of Virology 2003; 77(1): p57-67.

·         Philpott, N. J., Gomos, J., Berns, K. I., Falck-Pedersen, E.  A p5 integration efficiency element mediates Rep-dependent integration into AAVS1 at chromosome 19.  PNAS 2002; 99(19): p12381-5.

·         Philpott, N. J., Giraud-Wali, C., Dupuis, C., Gomos, J., Hamilton, H., Berns, K. I., Falck-Pedersen, E.  Efficient integration of recombinant adeno-associated virus DNA vectors requires a p5-rep sequence in cis.  Journal of Virology 2002; 76(11): p5411-21.

·         Trevejo, J., Marino, M., Philpott, N., Josien, R., Richards, E., Elkon, K., Falck-Pedersen, E. TNF-a-dependent maturation of local dendritic cells is critical for activating the adaptive immune response. PNAS 2001; 98(21): p12162-7.