Overview

Nancy D. Connell is Professor and Director for Research in the Division of Infectious Disease in the Department of Medicine at Rutgers New Jersey Medical School. A Harvard University Ph.D. in Microbiology, Dr. Connell?s major research focus is antibacterial drug discovery in respiratory pathogens such as M. tuberculosis and B. anthracis; recent work also focuses on the use of predatory bacteria as novel therapeutics for bacterial infections. She is Director of the Biosafety Level Three Facility of R-NJMS?s Center for Emerging Pathogens and chairs Newark?s Institutional Biosafety Committee. Dr. Connell has been continuously funded by the NIH, the DoD and industry since 1993 and serves on or has chaired many NIH review panels. She has served on >15 committees of the National Academy of Sciences, e.g., the Committee to Review the Scientific Approaches used in the FBI's Investigation of the 2001 Bacillus anthracis Mailings (2011). Dr. Connell has considerable experience and interest in pedagogy, focusing on the responsible conduct of research: she is currently chairing NRC ?Standing Committee for Faculty Development for Education about Research with Dual Use Issues in the Context of Responsible Science and Research Integrity?, which has directed sustainable training workshops held across the Middle East and North Africa. Dr. Connell was recently appointed to the Board on Life Sciences of the National Academies of Sciences.

Education

PHD, 1989, Harvard Medical School
BA, 1975, Middlebury College

Curriculum Vitae

View CV

Relevant Publications

Shatzkes K, Chae R, Tang C, Ramirez GC, Mukherjee S, Tsenova L, Connell ND, Kadouri DE. (2015) Examining the safety of respiratory and intravenous inoculation of Bdellovibrio bacteriovorus and Micavibrio aeruginosavorus in a mouse model. Sci Rep Aug 7;5:12899.

Russo R, Chae R, Mukherjee S, Singleton EJ, Occi JL, Kadouri DE, Connell ND. Susceptibility of select agents to predation by predatory bacteria. Microorganisms 2015 Dec2; 3:903-912.

Connell, N. D. and B. Rappert. 2016. Searching for cures or creating pandemics in the lab? in Biological threats in the 21st century; the politics, people, science, and historical roots. Imperial College Press, London.

Buller, R. M., N. D. Connell, S. S. Morse, R. C. Tait. 2016. Strengthening the Role of the IBC in the 21st Century in Ensuring National Biosecurity: Institutional Biosafety Committees. Baskin, C. R. and A. P. Zelicoff. Elsevier, London.

49. Forbes L, Ebsworth-Mojica K, DiDone L, Li SG, Freundlich JS, Connell N, Dunman PM, Krysan DJ. A High Throughput Screening Assay for Anti-Mycobacterial Small Molecules Based on Adenylate Kinase Release as a Reporter of Cell Lysis. PLoS One. 2015 Jun 22;10(6):e0129234.

Srivastava A, Talaue M, Liu S, Degen D, Ebright RY, Sineva E, Chakraborty A, Druzhinin SY, Chatterjee S, Mukhopadhyay J, Ebright YW, Zozula A, Shen J, Sengupta S, Niedfeldt RR, Xin C, Kaneko T, Irschik H, Jansen R, Donadio S, Connell ND and Ebright RH. (2011) New target for inhibition of bacterial RNA polymerase:`switch region?. Curr Opin Microbiol. 14(5):532-43

Budowle, Bruce B, Connell ND, Bielecka-Oder A, Colwell RA, Corbett CR, Fletcher J, Forsman M, Kadavy DR, Markotic A, Morse SA, Murch RS, Sajantila A, Schmedes SE, Ternus KL, Turner SD and Minot S. 2014. Validation of High Throughput Sequencing and Microbial Forensics Applications. Investigative Genetics July 30:5-9.

Ekins, S., Reynolds, R.C., Kim H., Koo, M.-S., Ekonomidids, M., Talaue, M., Paget, S.D., Woolhiser, L.K., Lenaerts, A.J., Bunin, B.A., Connell, N. Freundlich, J.S. (2013) Dual-event machine learning models to accelerate drug discovery. Chem Biol 20(3):370-378.

Rameshwar, P, Wong, E., and Connell, ND (2011) Effects by anthrax toxins on hematopoiesis: A key role for cytokines as mediators. Cytokine. 57: 143-149.

Clements JD, Connell ND, Dirks C, El-Faham M, Hay A, Heitman E, Stith JH, Bond EC, Colwell RA, Anestidou L, Husbands JL, Labov JB. 2014. Engaging actively with issues in the responsible conduct of science: lessons from international efforts are relevant for undergraduate education in the United States. CBE Life Sci Educ. 12(4): 596-603.

Course List

GSND5001Q

Responsible Conduct Resrch

Antibacterial drug discovery; Science, technology, and the responsible conduct of research

The major focus of the laboratory is antibacterial drug discovery and novel antibacterial approaches. The infectious organisms used in this program include: Bacillus anthracis (anthrax), Yersinia pestis (plague), Burkholderia mallei (glanders), Burkholderia pseudomallei (melioidosis), Francisella tularensis (tularemia), Rickettsia prowazekii (typhus), Brucella melitensis (brucellosis), Coxiella burnetii (Q fever), and multidrug resistant Mycobacterium tuberculosis (tuberculosis). Note that among the organisms to be studied are those that are not necessarily potential biological weapons agents, but pose a general health threat; this is consistent with the Center for BioDefense?s position that biological weapons are a subset of emerging infectious diseases. For example, we offer testing/screening of antibiotics against bacteria that cause serious nosocomial infections, such as Klebsiella, Pseudomonas, Actinetobacter, Escherichia, Enterococcus, MRSA, etc. Our extensive collection of and expertise with select agents and other bacteria is central to our work both within Rutgers (Freundlich, Ebright, Perlin, Kadouri) and without (Caren, Johns Hopkins; Dunman, University of Rochester; Jacobus Pharmaceuticals). This work is supported by the NIH and Jacobus Pharmaceuticals. A recent interest in exploiting ?predatory bacteria? as a novel form of antibacterial control is supported by DARPA.

Science, technology, and responsible conduct of research policy
I have been working in the area of science policy since the 1970s, as reflected in the social responsibility of scientists to be aware of the impact of their work, mostly in the arena of biological weapons. Current events have shaped the focus of this work; from helping to fashion verification protocols to the Biological Weapons Convention in the 1970-80s to application of novel technologies in the 1990-2000, to post-Amerithrax analysis and microbial forensics, and now ?Gain-of-Function? and Responsible Conduct of Research. I have dedicated a portion of my professional life to considering and promoting a culture of awareness of the dual application of biological research. Much of my scholarship in this area has been in NAS/NRC/IOM reports, chapters and seminars. I am currently a member of the NRC Board on Life Sciences, and I chair a standing committee at the NRC Standing Committee for Faculty Development for Education about Research with Dual Use Issues in the Context of Responsible Science and Research Integrity.

Funding (partial listing for 2016)

Jacobus Pharmaceuticals 1/01/15-12/31/15
The goals of this reesearch contract are (1) to screen chemicals for antimycobacterial efficacy in in vitro and ex vivo and (2) to develop novel screening methodologies for M. tuberculosis

DARPA-14-51-PAthPRed-FP-002 4/01/15 ? 3/31/18
This project explores the possibility of harnessing the antibacterial activity of predatory bacteria like Bdellovibrio and Micavibrio ssp for development as an alternative therapeutic.

NIH-NIAID U19-AI109713 (Perln, PI) 4/25/14-03/31/19 1
Center to Develop Therapeutic Countermeasures to High-Threat Bacterial Agents
The major goal of this project is establishment of a Center of Excellence for Translational Research; Connell component: in vitro screening core

NIH-NIAID R01 AI098713 (Alland, PI) 05/01/12-04/30/17
On-Demand Blood Tests for Select Agent Diagnosis
The major goal of this project is to adapt the Gene Xpert system (originally