Dr. Garry received his B.S in Life Sciences with a minor in Chemistry from Indiana State University in 1978. He then carried out doctoral studies in Microbiology at the University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Dr. Marilynn R.F. Waite and received his Ph.D. in 1978. His dissertation was entitled: "Intracellular sodium and potassium and the regulation of gene expression in virus-infected and virus-transformed chick cells." He carried out postdoctoral research in virology at UT Austin under the mentorship of Dr. Henry R. Bose, Jr. In 1983 Dr. Garry was appointed Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1985 he was Visiting Professor of Pathology at the University of Southern California working with Dr. Suraiya Rasheed. Dr. Garry spent 1991 as a Visiting Professor of Molecular Biology at the University of Hamburg working with Dr. Gebhard Koch. Since 1993 he has been Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at Tulane Medical School. Dr. Garry has published over 100 papers in the area of retrovirology. Research in the Garry Laboratory focuses on a number of aspects of retroviral pathogenesis. Investigations have found that HIV induces a number of defects in plasma membrane ion transport, which could account for the loss of CD4+ T-cells in AIDS patients. Another research interest is the molecular characterization of an isolate of HIV from a patient who died of AIDS in 1969. This is the earliest confirmed case of AIDS in the United States. In addition, the lab has discovered a retrovirus named human intracisternal A-type retroviral particle (HIAP), which appears to be involved in systemic autoimmune diseases and idiopathic CD4 T-lymphocytopenia. More recently, the lab obtained evidence for the existence of a human endogenous retrovirus named human mammary tumor virus (HMTV), which is a close homolog of a virus which causes breast cancer in mice.
Dr. Garry is currently managing a consortium of scientists who are developing countermeasures, including diagnostics, immunotherapeutics and vaccines, against Lassa virus, Ebola and Marburg viruses, and other high consequence pathogens. Our team has produced Lassa fever and Ebola point-of-care and confirmatory diagnostics based on recombinant proteins. A combination of human monoclonal antibodies has been shown to rescue 100% of monkeys even when treatment is initiated at an advanced stage of disease. Studies on a combination Lassa fever and Ebola vaccine for use in West Africa have been initiated. Productive collaborations have been exploited to deepen understanding of the natural history of viral hemorrhagic fevers while providing training for West African scientists and further developing research and clinical trial infrastructure in Sierra Leone and Nigeria.
Lan MS, Mason A, Coutant R, Chen Q-Y, Vargas A, Rao J, Gomez R, Chalew S, Garry RF, Maclaren NK. HERV-K10s and immune-mediated (type 1) diabetes. Cell 95: 14-16 (1998)
Plymale DR, Comardalle A, Fermin CD, Ng Tang D, Lewis DF, Garry RF. HIV-1 kills cells using both apoptotic and necrotic pathways. AIDS 13: 1827-1839 (1999)
Deas JE, Thompson JJ, Fermin CD, Liu LL, Martin D, Garry RF, Gallaher RF, Gallaher WR. Viral induction, transmission and apoptosis among cells infected by a human intracisternal A-type retrovirus. Virus Res 61: 19-27 (1999)
Karavattathayyil S, Kalkeri G, Gaglio P, Garry RF, Krause J, Dash J, Dash S. Detection of hepatitis C virus RNA sequences in B-cell non-Hodgkin lymphoma. Am J Clin Path 113: 391-398 (2000)
Kalkeri, G., Garry RF, Fermin CD, Dash S. Hepatitis C virus protein expression induces apoptosis in HepG2 cells. Virology 282: 26-37 (2001)
Mendez EA, DeSalvo KB, Cao Y, Garry RF, Espinoza LR. Familial erosive arthritis associated with seroreactivity to human intracisternal retroviral particle type I (HIAP-I). Rheumatology 40: 227-228 (2001)
Qi Z, Kalkeri G, Hanible J, Prabhu R, Bastian F, Garry RF, Dash S. Stem-loop structures (II-IV) of the 5' untranslated sequences are required for the expression of the full-length hepatitis C virus genome. Arch Virol 148, 449-67 (2003)
Akhter S, Liu H, Prabhu R, DeLuca C, Bastian F, Garry RF, Thung SN, Dash S. Epstein-Barr virus and human hepatocellular carcinoma. Cancer Lett 192, 49-57 (2003)
Prabhu R, Garry RF, Bastian F, Haque S, Regenstein F, Thung SN, Dash S. Interferon a-2b inhibits negative strand RNA and protein expression from a full-length HCV1a clone. Exp Mol Path 76, 242-252 (2004)
