Mejias, Asuncion

A. Personal Statement.
I have been involved for more than 15 years in clinical and translational research with application of immunologic and genomic analyses to investigate the pathogenesis of respiratory infections in children, and to identify diagnostic and prognostic signatures that can help to objectively assess disease severity. In addition to my clinical training in infectious diseases I complemented the training in bioinformatics with a Masters in Clinical Sciences, which gives me a unique perspective of how to analyze complex and large datasets using state of the art analytical tools.

B. Professional Experience.
1997-2001 Pediatric Residency, Hospital Infantil Universitario Gregorio Marañon, Madrid, Spain
2001-2006 Postdoctoral and clinical fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseses, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX
2006 - 2007 Senior Researcher, UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas.
2007 - 2010 Clinical Research Scholar. Clinical Research Scholar Program, Department of Clinical Sciences (1 UL1 RR024982-01). UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX.
2007 - 2009 Research Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas.
2009 - Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH.
2009 - Principal Investigator, Center for Vaccines and Immunity, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, OH
Honors
2001 - Thirteen Arbora & Ausonia Pediatric Research Award (Pediatric Spanish Association Annual Meeting).
2004 - Pediatric Fellowship Award in Viral Respiratory Infectious Diseases (PAS-SPR).
2005 - RGK Foundation Fellowship Grant in Infectious Diseases at Children's Medical Center Dallas. 2006 - ICAAC Program Committee Award.
2007 - Clinical Research Scholar
2010- Suma Cum Laude Thesis Award
2011- Masters in Clinical Sciences
2014- Caroline B. Hall Clinically Innovative Research Award
2015- Outstanding team award at the Research Institute, Nationwide Children’s Hospital
Other Experience and Professional Memberships
2001- Member, Infectious Diseases Society of America
2003- Member, Pediatric Infectious Diseases Society of America
2006- External Reviewer, Swiss National Science Foundation
2010- Member, Society for Pediatric Research
2015- External Reviewer, Consejo Superior FONCyT, National Science and Technology Agency, Argentina
2015- Scientific Committee, European Society for Pediatric Infectious Diseases (ESPID), Spain
2015- Member, Awards Committee, Pediatric Infectious Diseases of America

C. Selected Peer-reviewed Publications (most recent selected from a total of 78)
Most relevant

1. Mejias, A, Dimo, B., Suarez, N, Garcia, C., Suarez-Arrabal, M. C, Jartti, T, Blankenship, D, Jordan- Villegas, A, Ardura, M.I, Zhaohui, X, Banchereau, J, Chaussabel, D, Ramilo, O. Whole Blood Gene Expression Profiles to Assess Pathogenesis and Disease Severity in Infants with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infection. PLoS Med 2013 10 (11): e1001549. PMC3825655
2. Ioannidis, I., McNally, B., Willette, M., Peeples, M.E., Chaussabel, D., Durbin, J.E., Ramilo, O., Mejias, A., Flaño, E. 2012 Plasticity and virus-specificity of the airway epithelial cell immune response during respiratory viral infection. J Virol 86:5422-5436. PMC3347264 * co-corresponding
3. Berry MP. R, Graham C.M, McNab F.M, Xu Z, Bloch S, Oni T, Wilkinson K, Banchereau R, Skinner J, Wilkinson R, Quinn C, Blankenship D, Dhawan R, Cush J, Mejias A, Ramilo O, Kon O, Pascual V, Banchereau J, Chaussabel D, O'Garra A. Transcriptional Profiling Reveals an Interferon- Inducible Neutrophil-Driven Signature in Human Tuberculosis. Nature, 2010; 466 (7309):973-7. PMC3492754
4. Heinonen S, Jartti T, Garcia C, Oliva S, Smitherman C, Anguiano E, de Steenhuijsen Piters WA, Vuironen T, Ruuskanen O, Dimo B, Suarez NM, Pascual V, Ramilo O and Mejias A. Rhinovirus Detection in Symptomatic and Asymptomatic Children: Value of Host Transcriptome Analysis. Am J Respir Crit Care Med 2015, PMID: 26571305
5. Steenhuijsen Piters W, Heinonen S, Hasrat R, Bunsow E, Smith B, Suarez-Arrabal MC, Chaussabel D, Cohen DM, Sanders E, Ramilo O, Bogaert D and Mejias A. “Nasopharyngeal microbiota, host transcriptome and disease severity in children with respiratory syncytial virus infection”. Am J Respir Crit Care Med; 2016. PMID: 27135599

Other publications of interest

1. Bentebibel, S.E, Lopez, S, Obermoser, G, Schmitt, N, Mueller, C, Harrod, C., Flaño, E, Mejias, A, Albrecht, R.A., Blankenship, D., Xu, H., Pascual, V., Banchereau, J, Garcia-Sastre, A., Palucka, A.K., Ramilo, O., and Ueno, H. 2013 Induction of ICOS+CXCR3+CXCR5+ TH cells correlats with antibody responses to influenza vaccination. Sci Transl Med 5(176):176ra32. PMC3621097
2. Ardura M, Banchereau R, Mejías A, Di Pucchio T, Glaser C, Allantaz F, Pascual V, Banchereau J, Chaussabel D and Ramilo O. Enhanced Monocyte Response and Decreased Central memory Memory T cells in Children with Invasive Staphylococcus Aureus Infections. PLOS One 2009; 4(5): e5446. PMC2676512
3. Chaussabel, D., Quinn, C., Shen, J., Patel, P., Glaser, C., Baldwin, N., Stichweh, D. Bennett, L., Allantaz, F., Mejías A., Ardura, M., Kaizer, E., Monnet, L., Allman, W., Randall, H., Punaro, M., Wittkowski, KM., White P., Fay, J., Klintmalm, G., Ramilo, O., Palucka, A.K., Banchereau, J. and Pascual, V. A modular analysis Framework for blood genomic studies: application to systemic lupus erythematosus. Immunity 2008; 29 (1): 150-64. PMC2727981
4. Allantaz F., Chaussabel D., Stichweh D., Punaro M., Bennet L., Allman W, Mejías A, Ardura MI, Chung W, Wise C, Palucka K, Ramilo O, Banchereau J and Pascual V. Blood leukocyte Microarray to Diagnosis Systemic Onset Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis and follow the response to IL-1 Blockade. J Exp Med 2007; 204(9):2131-44. PMC2118700
5. Ramilo O., Allman W., Chung W., Mejías A, Glaser C, Wittkowski K. M., Piqueras B., Bennet L., Pascual V., Banchereau J., Palucka K. and Chaussabel D. Gene Expression Patterns in Blood Leukocytes Discriminate patients with Acute Infections. Blood 2007: 109 (5): 2066-77. PMC1801073
6. Garcia C, Soriano-Fallas A, Lozano J, Leos N, Gomez A.M, Ramilo O and Mejías, A. Decreased Innate Immune Cytokine Responses Correlate with Disease Severity in Children with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Human Rhinovirus (HRV) Bronchiolitis. Ped Infect Dis J, 2012: 31(1): 86-89.
7. Garcia C, Bhore, R, Soriano-Fallas A, Trost M, Chason R, Ramilo O and Mejías, A. Risk Factors for Bronchiolitis-related Hospitalizations: Differences between Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and non-RSV Bronchiolitis. Pediatrics, 2010; December 126 (6): e1453-60. PMC3761792
8. Estripeaut D, Torrres JP, Somers C, Tagliabue C, Khokhar S, Bohj V.G, Grube S, Wozniakowski A, Gomez A, Ramilo O, Jafri H and Mejías A. Respiratory Syncytial Virus persistence in the lungs correlates with airway hyperreactivity in the mouse model. J Infect Dis 2008; 198: 1435-43.
9. Fonseca-Aten M., Okada P.J, Bowlware K.L., Chávez-Bueno S., Mejías A., Ríos A, Katz K, Olsen K, Jafri H.S., McCracken G.H, , Ramilo O and Hardy R.D. Effect of Clarithromycin on Cytokines and Chemokines in Children with Acute Exacerbation of Recurrent Wheezing: A Double-Blind, Randomized, Placebo-Controlled Trial. Ann of Allergy, Asthma Immunol. 2006 Oct; 97 (4): 457-63.
10. Chavez-Bueno S, Mejías A, Ahmad N, Merryman R, Jafri H.S, Ramilo O. Intravenous Palivizumab and Ribavirin Combination for Treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus Disease in High-Risk Pediatric Patients. Pediatr Infect Dis J 2007; 26 (12): 1089-1093.
11. Cao R, N.M. Suarez, G. Obermoser, S. M.C. Lopez, E. Flano, S. E. Mertz, R. A. Albrecht, A. García-Sastre, A. Mejias, H. Xu, H. Qin, D. Blankenship, K. Palucka, V. Pascual, O. Ramilo. Differences in antibody responses between TIV and LAIV influenza Vaccines Correlate with the Kinetics and Magnitude of Interferon Signaling in Children. J Infect Dis 2014 15; 210(2):224-33. PMC4092249
12. Suárez-Arrabal MC, Mella C, Lopez S, Brown NV, Hall W. M, Hammond S, Shiels W, Groner J, Marcon M, Ramilo O, Mejias A. “Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Burden and Antibiotics: Influence on Inflammatory Markers and Disease Severity in Infants with Respiratory Syncytial Virus Bronchiolitis”. J Infect 2015: 71(4): 458-69; PMID: 26149186
13. Suarez NM, Bunsow E, Falsey AR, Walsh EE, Mejias A, Ramilo O. “Superiority of Transcriptional Profiling over Procalcitonin for Distinguishing Bacterial from Viral Lower Respiratory Tract Infections in Hospitalized Adults”. J Infect Dis 2015; 212 (2): 213-22 . PMID:25637350
14. Blohmke C, Darton T, Jones C, Suarez N, Waddington C, Angus B, Zhou L, Hill J, Mukhopadhyay S, Schreiber F, Duque M, Wright J, Roumeliotis T, Yu L, Choudhary J, Mejias A, Ramilo O, Shanyinde M, Sztein M, Kingsley R, Lockhart S, Levine M, Lynn D, Dougan G, Pollard A, Clare S, and Kan L. "Interferon-driven alterations of the host's amino acid metabolism are implicated in the pathogenesis of typhoid fever". J Exp Med 2016; 213(6): 1061-77. PMID: 27217537
15. Mahajan P, Kuppermann N, Mejias A, Suarez N, Chaussabel D, Casper C, Smith B, Alpern ER, Anders J, Atabaki SM, Bennett JA, Blumberg S, Bonsu B, Borgialli D, Brayer A, Browne L, Cohen DM, Crain EF, Cruz AT, Dayan PS, Gattu R, Greenberg R, MD, Hoyle JD, Jr, Jaffe DM, Levine DA, Lillis K, Linakis JG, Muenzer J, Nigrovic LE, Powell EC, Rogers AJ, Roosevelt G, Ruddy RM, Saunders M, Tunik MG, Tzimenatos L, Vitale M, Dean MJ, Ramilo O, for PECARN. “Association of RNA Biosignatures with Bacterial Infections in Febrile Infants 60 Days of Age or Younger”. JAMA 2016; 316 (8):846-57. PMID:27552618

Complete List of Published Work in My Bibliography: http://1.usa.gov/1MU3w3Q

D. Research Support.
Ongoing

• P01AI112524-01A1 (Peeples M, Ramilo O, Co-PD) 8/27/2015-1/31/2020
  NIH/NIAID
  Live Attenuated RSV Vaccine with Optimized Safety and Immunogenicity
  “The Interferon Response and NS Gene Sequence in Infants with Mild and Severe RSV Infection”
  (Mejias A, PI)
  Role: Principal investigator
• OBSERVERSV0006 (Mejias A, PI) 1/01/2015 – 12/1/2017
  Janssen Pharmaceuticals (Johson&Johnson Research & Dev)
  Clinical and Laboratory Endpoints to Evaluate Therapeutic and Preventive Interventions for RSV
  Infections
  Role: Principal investigator
• R01 HD085233-01; Ramilo O, Mahajan P, Kuppermann N (MPIs) 08/21/15-04/30/20
  RNA Biosignatures: A Paradigm Change for the Management of Young Febrile Infants
  Role: Co-investigator
• ALS-008176 11/1/2015- 5/1/2017
  Alios BioPharma
  A Randomized, Double-blind, Placebo-controlled, 2-Part Study of Orally Administered ALS-008176 to Evaluate the Safety, Tolerability, Pharmacokinetics and Pharmacodynamics of Single Ascending Dosing and Multiple Ascending Dosing in Infants Hospitalized with Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection
  Role: Principal investigator
• The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital (Mejias, PI) 2/2014–6/2016
  Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RVS) and Nasopharyngeal Bacterial Colonization in infants with Acute
  Respiratory Tract Infection
  Role: Principal investigator
• Research Intramural Award sponsored NCH Thompson P (PI) 8/2013-6/2016
  “Determining Infectious Signatures in Cystic Fibrosis (CF)”
  Role: Co-investigator
• Instituto Nacional de Salud Carlos III_FIS 12/2014-16
  Host and viral factors associated with enhanced RSV disease
  Role: Co-investigator
• Instituto Nacional de Salud Carlos III_FIS 12/2013-16
  Role of viral confections and gene expression profiles to assess disease severity in infants with Pertussis.
  Role: Co-investigator

Completed
1 R01HD062477-01A1 MPI Ramilo, O 06/01/11 – 05/31/15 Effort: 0.6 calendar NIH/NIAID (Wayne State University) RNA Biosignatures in the Emergency Evaluation of Young Febrile Infants (PECARN) The goal of this project is to incorporate transcriptional biosignatures into the evaluation of febrile infants in the ED in order to improve diagnosis and/or management of these patients.

U19 AI089987 P.I. Virginia Pascual, O. Ramilo site PI 07/01/11-06/30/15 Effort: 0.36 calendar Systems Analysis of Vaccine Responses in Healthy and Hypo-responsive Humans The goal of this project is to compare the cellular and immune gene expression profiles of healthy children and children with autoimmune diseases immunized with influenza vaccines.

GS-US-218-0111 PI: A. Mejias 11/01/2012 – 03/31/2014 Effort: 0.6 calendar Gilead Sciences, Inc. A Multi-Center, Outpatient, Surveillance Study of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) Infection and RSV-related Hospitalizations Among Subjects < 24 Months of Age with a Medically Attended Respiratory Tract Infection Observational epidemiologic study to define the burden of RSV infection.

University of Chile PI: Mejias, A. 06/01/12 – 05/31/13 Effort: 0.06 calendar “Biomarkers for Identification of Chilean Infants at Risk for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) and Rhinovirus (RV) Severe Acute Lower Respiratory Infection” This proposal will study the different transcriptional profiles of infants with RSV and human rhinovirus infection. In this proposal I served as advisor and I am responsible for conducting all the microarray analyses.

Mead Johnson Nutritionals PI: A. Mejias 01/01/11 – 12/31/12 Effort: 0.6 calendar Anti-viral activity and effects on disease severity of bovine lactoferrin towards respiratory syncytial virus (RSV)

Abbott Laboratories. PI: A. Mejias 05/26/2010 – 08/31/12 Effort: 0.6 calendar Transcriptional signatures and SNIPs in Children with RSV-induced wheezing

U19 AI057234 PI: Ramilo, O 5/1/09 – 4/30/14 Effort: 0.6 calendar “Harnessing human dendritic cell subsets for improved mucosal vaccines” The goal of this project is to obtain and analyze blood and nasal wash samples from human volunteers (healthy, vaccinated with LAIV or TIV, and naturally infected with influenza).

7 U01 AI082110-03 site PI, Ramilo O 08/01/11 – 07/31/14 Effort: 0.6 calendar NIH/NIAID (Benaroya) Blood Transcriptional Biomarker Profiles of Category B Pathogens The goal of this project is to define biosignatures that can help classifying class B pathogens in children and adults.

HRSA-EMSC TI PI: O. Ramilo 7/1/2009 – 02/29/12 Effort: 0.6 calendar “Application of Transcriptional signatures for Diagnosis of Febrile Infants within the Pediatric Emergency Care Applied Research Network (PECARN)”

1U19AI057234-010003 NIAID PI: O. Ramilo 09/22/09 – 04/30/12 Effort: 0.6 calendar Harnessing Human DC subsets for Improved Mucosal Vaccines - H1N1 subproject The purpose of the project is the application of microarray analysis in children with the novel H1N1 to aid in the development of targeted flu vaccines.

PATENTS
Respiratory Syncytial Virus having altered NS1 protein function- RSV vaccine development
US serial No: 62/205,627
RINCH01USP1/RINCH2011-001-01