Steven Hinrichs, M.D.
Phone: 402.559.8301
Email:
shinrich@unmc.edu
Interests:
Director, Microbiology and Virology
Molecular Therapeutics for Cancer
Animal Models of Molecular Disease Mechanisms
Infectious Diseases
Director, Nebraska Public Health Laboratory
Informatics and Electronic Information Systems
Research:
My academic research activities are centered in two areas, including cancer biology and infectious diseases.
The research activities have considerable overlap when studied at the molecular level and provide the
opportunity for insights into many issues of clinical relevance. I am interested in how infectious
diseases and viruses in particular are involved in the development of the neoplastic process or complicate
its treatment. We have developed a model system for inhibiting the transcriptional activation process
resulting from infection by HTLV-1 whereby the Tax protein up-regulates expression of a variety of other
genes through a cyclic AMP responsive element. We identified a monoclonal antibody that blocks the binding
of ATF-1 to DNA with an accompanying decrease in transcriptional activation. The complementarity determining
regions of this antibody have been cloned into a functional scFv that can be expressed in cells. The
relevance of this approach comes with the knowledge that many characteristic chromosomal translocations
incorporate the transcriptional activation domain of one gene and the DNA binding domain of a second gene.
We have shown that one example of such a fusion gene is overexpressed and is critical for the maintenance
of proliferation in a sarcoma. We are now using x-ray crystallography to examine the interactions between
the CDRs of the antibody and its epitope to gain more insight into key molecular interactions and possible
future developments of carbon-based inhibitory molecules.
The second aspects of cancer and infectious diseases relates to the complications of treatment of patients
who are immunosuppressed. One of the most insidious infections is that by molds and fungi which reside in
the environment and present minimal threat to immunocompetent individuals. We have developed novel molecular
detection strategies that can also be used to identify the specific fungus at the species level in blood
and/or tissue. These efforts have been recently expanded to successfully identify all known pathogenic and
opportunistic fungi.
Education and Training
B.S., University of North Dakota, 1976 (Honors)
M.D., University of North Dakota, 1980
Residency, University of California, Davis, 1980-1984
Board Certified in Anatomical and Clinical Pathology
Medical Staff Fellow, NIH, 1985-1987
National Activities
CDC - NEDSS Advisory Board
APHL - Chair, Management Information Systems Committee
Member - California Cancer Research Committee
Editorial Boards or Journal Reviewer - Journal of Biological Medicine, JASCP, Archives of Pathology
