Associate Professor: Stephan Menne

Stephan Menne

Dr. Menne is a Research Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology & Immunology.

Summary

  • Ph.D., Institute of Virology, University of Essen, Germany, 1997
  • Post-Doctoral Fellow, Department of Clinical Sciences, Cornell University, USA, 1997
  • Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical Sciences, Cornell University, USA, 2003
  • At Georgetown since 2010, appointed as Research Associate Professor
  • The lab currently employs Research Staff, Graduate and PhD Students.
  • Graduate Students are welcome to participate in laboratory rotations (MICB-622-06)
  • Contact: (202) 687-2949; Stephan.Menne@georgetown.edu

Overview

Chronic infection with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major public health problem with approximately 250 million infected individuals and 1.2 million deaths per year worldwide. Chronic carriers of HBV are at high risk of developing chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC; primary liver cancer). Although safe and effective prophylactic vaccines against HBV are available, antiviral drugs and/or immunotherapeutics for treatment of chronically infected patients are limited. The woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) and its natural host, the Eastern woodchuck (Marmota monax), is a well-characterized, fully immunocompetent mammalian model available for basic and translational research on chronic HBV infection and HCC. The woodchuck model has been useful in studies of the pathogenesis of transient/resolved and chronic HBV infections, and in the preclinical evaluation of efficacy and, importantly, safety of drug candidates for treatment of chronic HBV infection and associated liver disease sequelae.

The research in my laboratory is mainly focused on the preclinical assessment of antiviral and other therapeutic strategies in the woodchuck model for the management of HBV infection. My group is further interested in studying innate and adaptive immunity against WHV and HCC in woodchucks. Virus-host immune response interactions are further investigated. The overall goal is to identify viral and host targets for the development of new or improved strategies for the treatment of chronic HBV infection and HCC by determining the role of immune responses leading to suppression of viral replication (induction of functional cure), delay of chronic liver disease progression, and prevention of HCC development. These activities have resulted in many publications in the scientific literature. Our efforts were recently recognized by the Georgetown University Medical Center (GUMC) 2014 Outstanding Achievement in Research Award. During 2014, we were awarded a R01 grant in a multi-PI study on hepatitis B (NIH/NIAID 1 R01AI113267, 2014-2019). We also participate in another multi-PI R01 grant, awarded in 2012 (NIH/NCI 1 R01CA166213, 2012-2018).

The laboratory currently employs research staff, Graduate and PhD Students. Additional grant and research agreement/contract applications are in process to support Post-Doctoral Fellows, with interest in innate/adaptive immune response. Graduate Students are welcome to participate in laboratory rotations (MICB-622-06; Adv. Techniques in Microbiology).

Literature (Peer-Reviewed Journal Articles)

  • Jeffery Fairman, Katherine H. Liu and Stephan Menne. “Prevention Of Liver Tumor Formation In Woodchucks With Established Hepatocellular Carcinoma By Treatment With Cationic Liposome-DNA Complexes.” BMC Cancer, 17, 1 (December 2017).
  • Manasa Suresh, Kyle E. Korolowicz, Maria Balarezo, Radhakrishnan P. Iyer, Seetharamaiyer Padmanabhan, Dillon Cleary, Rayomand Gimi, Anjaneyulu Sheri, Changsuek Yon, Bhaskar V. Kallakury, Robin D. Tucker, Nezam Afdhal and Stephan Menne. “Antiviral Efficacy And Host Immune Response Induction During Sequential Treatment With SB 9200 Followed By Entecavir In Woodchucks.” Plos One, 12, 1 (January 05, 2017): e0169631.
  • Marta G. Murreddu, Manasa Suresh, Severin O. Gudima and Stephan Menne. “Measurement Of Antiviral Effect And Innate Immune Response During Treatment Of Primary Woodchuck Hepatocytes.” Methods In Molecular Biology, Hepatitis B Virus (2017): 277-294.
  • Kyle E. Korolowicz, Radhakrishnan P. Iyer, Stefanie Czerwinski, Manasa Suresh, Junming Yang, Seetharamaiyer Padmanabhan, Anjaneyulu Sheri, Rajendra K. Pandey, Jeffrey Skell, Judith K. Marquis, Bhaskar V. Kallakury, Robin D. Tucker and Stephan Menne. “Antiviral Efficacy And Host Innate Immunity Associated With SB 9200 Treatment In The Woodchuck Model Of Chronic Hepatitis B.” Plos One, 11, 8 (August 23, 2016): e0161313.
  • Daniela Paulsen, Olaf Weber, Helga Ruebsamen-schaeff, Bud C. Tennant and Stephan Menne. “AIC649 Induces A Bi-phasic Treatment Response In The Woodchuck Model Of Chronic Hepatitis B.” Plos One, 10, 12 (December 14, 2015): e0144383.
  • Natalia Freitas, Tetyana Lukash, Louise Rodrigues, Sam Litwin, Bhaskar V. Kallakury, Stephan Menne and Severin O. Gudima. “Infection Patterns Induced In Naive Adult Woodchucks By Virions Of Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus Collected During Either The Acute Or Chronic Phase Of Infection.” Journal Of Virology, 89, 17 (September 01, 2015): 8749-8763.
  • Simon P. Fletcher, Daniel J. Chin, Lore Gruenbaum, Hans Bitter, Erik Rasmussen, Palanikumar Ravindran, David C. Swinney, Fabian Birzele, Roland Schmucki, Stefan H. Lorenz, Erhard Kopetzki, Jade Carter, Miriam Triyatni, Linta M. Thampi, Junming Yang, Dalal Aldeghaither, Marta G. Murredu, Paul Cote and Stephan Menne. “Intrahepatic Transcriptional Signature Associated With Response To Interferon-α Treatment In The Woodchuck Model Of Chronic Hepatitis B.” Plos Pathogens, 11, 9 (September 09, 2015): e1005103.
  • Pedro Berraondo, Marianna Di Scala, Kyle Korolowicz, Linta M. Thampi, Itziar Otano, Lester Suarez, Jessica Fioravanti, Fernando Aranda, Nuria Ardaiz, Junming Yang, Bhaskar V. Kallakury, Robin D. Tucker, Marcos Vasquez, Stephan Menne, Jesús Prieto and Gloria González-Aseguinolaza. “Liver-directed Gene Therapy Of Chronic Hepadnavirus Infection Using Interferon Alpha Tethered To Apolipoprotein A-1.” Journal Of Hepatology, 63, 2 (August 2015): 329-336.
  • Natalia Freitas, Tetyana Lukash, Megan Dudek, Sam Litwin, Stephan Menne and Severin O. Gudima. “Capacity Of A Natural Strain Of Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus, WHVNY, To Induce Acute Infection In Naive Adult Woodchucks.” Virus Research, 205 (July 2015): 12-21.
  • Stephan Menne, Daniel B. Tumas, Katherine H. Liu, Linta Thampi, Dalal Aldeghaither, Betty H. Baldwin, Christine A. Bellezza, Paul J. Cote, Jim Zheng, Randall Halcomb, Abigail Fosdick, Simon P. Fletcher, Stephane Daffis, Li Li, Peng Yue, Grushenka H.i. Wolfgang and Bud C. Tennant. “Sustained Efficacy And Seroconversion With The Toll-like Receptor 7 Agonist GS-9620 In The Woodchuck Model Of Chronic Hepatitis B.” Journal Of Hepatology, 62, 6 (June 2015): 1237-1245.
  • Leire Moreno-Cugnon, Aitor Esparza-aquer, Amaia Larruskain, Koldo García-Etxebarria, Stephan Menne, Gloria González-Aseguinolaza and Begoña M. Jugo. “Characterization And Genotyping Of The Drb1 Gene Of The Major Histocompatibility Complex (MHC) In The Marmota Monax, Animal Model Of Hepatitis B.” Molecular Immunology, 63, 2 (February 2015): 505-512.
  • Louise Rodrigues, Natalia Freitas, Bhaskar V. Kallakury, Stephan Menne and Severin O. Gudima. “Superinfection With Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus Strain WHVNY Of Livers Chronically Infected With Strain WHV7.” Journal Of Virology, 89, 1 (January 01, 2015): 384-405.

Medline publications list