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Dr. Isabel M. Gimeno

Dr. Isabel M. Gimeno

Assistant Professor, Poultry Health Management
Diplomate, American College of Poultry Veterinarians

Phone: 919.513.6852
Fax: 919.513.6464
Email: isabel_gimeno@ncsu.edu


Education

  • PhD - Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1999
  • MS - Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1996
  • LV (Licenciado en Veterinaria) - Universidad Complutense de Madrid, 1995

Areas of Research/Study

  • Avian tumor viruses
  • Emerging poultry infectious diseases
  • Poultry immunology
  • Poultry pathology

Marek's disease (MD) is a lymphoproliferative disease induced by the alpha-herpesvirus Marek's disease virus (MDV). MDV has evolved towards more virulent forms in the recent decades. The efficacy of MDV vaccines has decreased concomitantly with the increase in virulence of field isolates. Of particular importance, the most commonly utilized vaccine in the USA during the past 20 years (bivalent vaccine including serotypes 2 and 3) does not protect chickens against the most recently isolated strains of MDV, the very virulent plus (vv+/). Attenuated serotype 1 vaccines seem to confer better protection against challenge with vv+/strains. Nonetheless, even serotype 1 vaccines have been shown to have reduced efficacy with time in some European and Asian countries. Because of the great economic impact of Marek's disease and the threat of more virulent MDV strains emerging, the search for more efficient vaccines continues. A major limitation in the development of more efficient vaccines, however, is the lack of information on mechanisms of vaccine immunity. One of the goals of my laboratory is to better understand the mechanisms of Marek's disease vaccine immunity to develop better strategies of control.

In addition to the development of lymphomas, Marek's disease virus induced a variety of neurological syndromes. The pathogenesis of MDV in the nervous system is not fully understood but it is very likely that Marek's disease virus elicit an abnormal immune response leading to the development of autoimmunity. One of the objectives of my laboratory is to elucidate the mechanisms by which MDV induce lesions in the brain and in the peripheral nerves as well as to determine the factors (virus, host and environment) that contribute to the development of MDV-induced neurological syndromes.

Professional Experience

  • February 2006 to present. Assistant Professor. Department of Population Health and Pathobiology, College of Veterinary Medicine, North Carolina State University.
  • February 2002 to January 2006. Postdoctoral position at the USDA-ARS Avian Disease and Oncology Laboratory, East Lansing, MI.
  • January 2001 to January 2002 . Research Associate at the Animal Health Diagnostic Laboratory, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI
  • January 2000 to December 2000. Research Associate at the Research Institute for Animal Health (CISA-INIA), Valdeolmos, Madrid.

Representative Publications

Scientific Papers

  • Silva, R.F., Gimeno, I.M. (2006). Oncogenic Marek's Disease Viruses Lacking the 132 Base Pair Repeats Can Still Be Attenuated by Serial in Vitro Cell Culture Passages. Virus Genes (accepted, in press)
  • Witter, R.L., Gimeno, I.M. (2006). Susceptibility of Adult Chickens, with and Without Prior Vaccination, to Challenge with Marek's Disease Virus. Avian Diseases (accepted, in press)
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, A.M. Fadly, R.F. Silva. (2005). Novel criteria for the diagnosis of Marek's disease virus-induced lymphomas. Avian Pathology, 34, 332-340
  • Lee, L.F., X. Cui, Z. Cui, I.M. Gimeno, B. Lupiani, S.M. Reddy. (2005) Characterization of a Very Virulent Marek's Disease Virus Mutant Expressing the Pp38 Protein from the Serotype 1 Vaccine Strain Cvi988/rispens. Virus Genes. 31(1):73-80.
  • Lupiani, B.M., X. Cui, L.F. Lee, I.M. Gimeno, R.W. Morgan, R. Silva, R.L. Witter, H.J. Kung, S.M Reddy. (2004). Marek's disease virus encoded Meq gene is involved in transformation of lymphocytes but dispensable for early cytolytic infection. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 101: 11815-11820.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, H.D. Hunt, R.F. Silva. (2004). In vivo characterization of the biological function of Marek's disease virus gene pp38. Journal of Virology, 79: 4545-4549.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, H.D. Hunt, S.M. Reddy, W.M. Reed (2004). Biological and immunological characteristics shared by highly protective vaccines against Marek's disease. Avian Pathology, 33: 59-68.
  • Reddy, A.M., B. Lupiani, I.M. Gimeno, L.F. Lee, R.F. Silva, R.L. Witter (2002). Rescue of a pathogenic Marek's disease virus using overlapping cosmid DNAs: pp38 is not essential for oncogenesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science USA, 99:7054-7059.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, U. Neumann (2002). Neurological response as an additional criterion for the pathotypic classification of Marek's disease virus. Avian Diseases, 46:909-918.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, H.D. Hunt, S.M. Reddy, U. Neumann. (2001). Differential attenuation of neurological pathology in Marek´s disease virus: a model for studying pathogenesis of transient paralysis. Avian Pathology, 30: 397-409.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, H.D. Hunt, L.F. Lee, S.M. Reddy, U. Neumann. (2001). Marek´s disease virus infection in the brain: virus replication, cellular infiltration and major histocompatibility complex antigen expression. Veterinary Pathology, 38: 491-503.
  • Hunt, H.D., B. Lupiani, M.M. Miller, I.M. Gimeno, L.F. Lee, M.S. Parcells. (2001). Marek´s disease virus down regulates surface expression of MHC (B complex) class I (BF) glycoproteins during active but not latent infection of chicken cells. Virology, 282: 198-205.
  • Reddy, S.M., R.L. Witter, I.M. Gimeno. (2000). Development of a quantitative-competitive PCR assay for serotype 1 Marek´s disease virus. Avian Diseases, 44: 770-775.
  • Voelckel, K., E. Bertram, I.M. Gimeno, U. Neumann, E.F. Kaleta. (1999). Evidence for Marek´s disease in turkeys in Germany: Detection of MDVH serotype 1 using the polymerase chain reaction. Acta Virologica, 43: 143-147.
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, L.D. Bacon, W.M. Reed. (1999). Four Distinct Neurological Syndromes in Marek´s Disease: Effect of Viral Strain and Pathotype. Avian Diseases, 43: 721-737.
  • Witter, R.L., I. M. Gimeno, W.M. Reed. (1999). An acute form of transient paralysis induced by highly virulent strains of Marek´s disease virus. Avian Diseases, 43: 704-720.

Book chapters, invited reviews, and slide study sets

  • Gimeno, I.M. Future strategies for controlling Marek's disease. 2004. In Marek's disease. Edited by F. Davison and V. Nair, Elsevier, pp186-199, London, UK.
  • Gimeno, I.M. Enfermedad de Marek. In Principios Basicos de Patologia Aviar. A.J.P. Ferreira and L. Revolledo (eds). Guanabara Koogan, Brasil (Book chapter in press)
  • Witter, R.L., B.W. Calnek, C. Buscaglia, I.M. Gimeno, K.A. Schat. Classification of Marek's disease according to pathotype - philosophy and methodology. (invited review, Avian Pathology in press)
  • Witter, R.L., I.M. Gimeno, A.M. Fadly. 2004. Differential diagnosis of lymphoid and myeloid tumors in the chicken. American Association of Avian Pathologist (slide study set #27)
  • Gimeno, I.M., R.L. Witter, A. Miles. Marek's disease. American Association of Avian Pathologist (slide study set #26)

NC State College of Veterinary Medicine 4700 Hillsborough Street, Raleigh, NC 27606(919) 513-6786