Email

strych@bcm.edu

Positions

Associate Professor

Pediatrics-Tropical Medicine
Baylor College of Medicine
Houston, TX US

Addresses

TX Childs Feigin Ctr (Office)

Room: TXFC-C1470.34
Houston, TX 77030
United States
Phone: (832) 824-0502
strych@bcm.edu

Education

PhD from Ruhr University

05/1995 - Bochum, NRW Germany

MS from Ruhr University

05/1991 - Bochum, NRW Germany

Professional Statement

Over the last few years growth of the National School of Tropical Medicine, the Section of Pediatric Tropical Medicine and its Center for Vaccine Development has been significant. Multiple vaccine candidates are far along the line of the development pathway and approvals, and new target candidates are constantly being evaluated, while options for entirely new collaborations are being explored all over the world.
My goal is to help facilitate and promote these collaborative activities through the coordination and exploration of the existing research portfolio and the identification of new funding programs.

Websites

Selected Publications

• Adhikari M, Dhamane S, Hagström AE, Garvey G, Chen WH, Kourentzi K, Strych U, Willson RC. "Functionalized viral nanoparticles as ultrasensitive reporters in lateral-flow assays." Analyst. 2013 Oct 7;138(19):5584-5587. Pubmed PMID: 23905160
• Hotez PJ, Bottazzi ME, Strych U, Chang LY, Lim YA, Goodenow MM, AbuBakar S. "Neglected tropical diseases among the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN): overview and update.." PLoS Negl Trop Dis.. 2015 Apr 16; Pubmed PMID: 25880767
• Pollet J, Strych U, Chen WH, Versteeg L, Keegan B, Zhan B, Wei J, Liu Z, Lee J, Kundu R, Adhikari R, Poveda C, Jose Villar M, Rani Thimmiraju S, Lopez B, Gillespie PM, Ronca S, Kimata JT, Reers M, Paradkar V, Hotez PJ, Elena Bottazzi M. "Receptor-binding domain recombinant protein on alum-CpG induces broad protection against SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern.." Vaccine. 2022 Jun;40 Pubmed PMID: 35568591
• Jeroen Pollet, Wen-Hsiang Chen, Ulrich Strych "Recombinant protein vaccines, a proven approach against coronavirus pandemics." Adv Drug Deliv Rev .. 2021 Mar;170 Pubmed PMID: 33421475

Intellectual Property

Compositions having antimycrobial activity including a hydroxamate or a hydroxamate and a hydroxlyamine

Product Patent #WO 2005020973 A2 (Approved)

This invention relates to a group of compounds with anti-mycobacterial activities that have a common hydroxamic acid structural feature and to methods for using same. This invention also relates to compositions including an hydroxamate and an hydroxylamine which possess anti-mycobacterial activity and to methods for making and using same. [0002] More particularly, the present invention relates to compositions capable of inhibiting mycobacterium tuberculosis in standard mycobacterial growth assays, where the compositions include a therapeutically effective amount of an hydroxamate or an therapeutically effective amount of an hydroxamate and an hydroxylamine and to methods for using same.

Co Inventors: Michael Benedik, James M Briggs, Myoung Goo Kim, Harold Kohn, Kurt L Krause

Method Patent #US 20120045748 A1 (Pending)

A methodology for bioassays and diagnostics in which a particulate label (ranging in size from nm-scale molecular assemblages to organisms on the scale of tens or hundreds of microns), such as, but not limited to, nanoparticles, bacteria, bacteriophage, Daphnia, and magnetic particles, serve carriers for analytes bound by molecular recognition elements such as antibodies, aptamers, etc. The described methodology is generally applicable to most pathogen assays and molecular diagnostics and also leads to enhanced sensitivity and convenience of use.

Co Inventors: Richard C. Willson, Binh V. Vu

Functional nucleic acids and methods

Method Patent #US 20100087336 A1 (Pending)

The present invention relates to methods of generating amounts of selective nucleic acids. The present invention further relates to selective nucleic acids incorporated within non-coding nucleic acids, capable of binding to or altering a target molecule. Selective nucleic acids may generally refer to, but are not limited to, deoxyribonucleic acids (DNAs), ribonucleic acids (RNAs), artificially modified nucleic acids, combinations or modifications thereof. Selective nucleic acids may also generally refer to, but are not limited to, nucleic acid aptamers, aptazymes, ribozymes, deoxyribozymes, nucleic acid probes, small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), micro RNAs (miRNAs), short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs), antisense nucleic acids, diagnostic probes or probe libraries, aptamer inhibitors, precursors of any of the above and/or combinations or modifications thereof. In one aspect, a method for generating amounts of selective nucleic acids includes incorporating a selective nucleic acid sequence into a carrier nucleic acid. In general, the carrier nucleic acid may be transcribed by a cell into a product nucleic acid which may carry an incorporated selective nucleic acid sequence.

Co Inventors: George Jackson, Roger McNichols, George E. Fox, Victor G. Stepanov, Yamei Liu

Biomimetic nucleic acids

Product Patent #WO 2009135198 A1 (Pending)

The present invention is directed to nucleic acids with biomimetic properties and methods for producing said nucleic acids. In particular, this invention relates to nucleic acids exhibiting biomimetic properties in relation to proteins such as growth factors, hormones and/or other cell signaling proteins. Biomimetic properties may generally be defined as interactive ability in the same and/or similar manner as another biological molecule. This may, for example, include interacting with a ligand-binding biomolecule, such as a cell signaling receptor, in a manner similar to a native ligand. In the case of a signaling receptor, such biomimetic nucleic acids may in general act as an agonist or an antagonist to the given receptor. They may further act in competition to a native ligand.

Co Inventors: George Jackson, Stephen Navran