Ian Michelow Laboratory

My laboratory is part of the Program of Innate Immunity, a collaborative research group in the Department of Pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School. My research activities include the study of viral and bacterial pathogenesis, and host innate immune responses with the objective of developing novel immunotherapeutics to meet the challenge of emerging multidrug resistant infectious diseases.

The organisms that I study include native and genetically engineered Ebola and Marburg viruses, Staphylococcus aureus including virulent multidrug-resistant strains, and Pseudomonas spp that commonly complicate thermal injuries. My laboratory uses in vitro and in vivo approaches in animal models and human studies to elucidate the role of the lectin-complement pathway in modulating viral and bacterial infections. We are establishing high throughput assays to identify novel cellular receptors of viral attachment by means of siRNA and to screen for therapeutic small molecules that inhibit viral infection.

I am co-Principal Investigator on an NIH/NIAID funded UO1 grant . Together with our collaborators at the US Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases, we have successfully demonstrated for the first time that recombinant human mannose-binding lectin (MBL) can be used as a therapeutic agent to reduce mortality in a mouse model of native Ebola virus infection for which no human therapies exist. We are currently testing novel chimeric lectin molecules derived from MBL and L-ficolin to optimize functionality.

Selected Publications

• Harris, J. B., Michelow, I. C., et al. (2008). "Case records of the Massachusetts General Hospital. Case 21-2008. An 11-month-old boy with fever and pulmonary infiltrates." N Engl J Med 359(2): 178-87.
• Michelow, I. C., K. Katz, et al. (2007). "Systemic cytokine profile in children with community-acquired pneumonia." Pediatr Pulmonol 42(7): 640-5.
• Takahashi, K., W. E. Ip, Michelow, I.C., and Ezekowitz, R.A. (2006). "The mannose-binding lectin: a prototypic pattern recognition molecule." Curr Opin Immunol 18(1): 16-23.
• Michelow, I. C., K. Olsen, et al. (2004). "Epidemiology and clinical characteristics of community-acquired pneumonia in hospitalized children." Pediatrics 113(4): 701-7.
• Michelow, I. C., K. Olsen, et al. (2004). "Diagnostic utility and clinical significance of naso- and oropharyngeal samples used in a PCR assay to diagnose Mycoplasma pneumoniae infection in children with community-acquired pneumonia." J Clin Microbiol 42(7): 3339-41.
• Michelow, I. C., G. D. Wendel, Jr., et al. (2002). "Central nervous system infection in congenital syphilis." N Engl J Med 346(23): 1792-8.
• Michelow, I. C., J. Lozano, et al. (2002). "Diagnosis of Streptococcus pneumoniae lower respiratory infection in hospitalized children by culture, polymerase chain reaction, serological testing, and urinary antigen detection." Clin Infect Dis 34(1): E1-11.

Contact Information

Ian Michelow, MD DTM&H
Assistant Pediatrician
Instructor in Pediatrics
Massachusetts General Hospital
Harvard Medical School

Address:
Massachusetts General Hospital
Developmental Immunology
55 Fruit Street, GRJ 1402 (Jackson Bldg. 14th floor)
Boston, MA 02114
Tel: (617) 724-2897
Fax: (617) 724-3248
E-mail: imichelow@partners.org