J. Sharon Ph.D.

Jacqueline Sharon, PhD
Professor of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine

Education and Training 

BA-MA – Queens College, New York, NY
PhD – Columbia University, New York, NY
Postdoc – Harvard University, Cambridge, MA

Teaching and Advising

Course Manager & Instructor – Medical Immunology (MED MS131 & GMS PA510)
Student Advisor – Pathology-Immunology Interdepartmental PhD Program

Research Interests

Recent research in the laboratory involved the production of recombinant polyclonal antibodies for immunotherapy of cancer and infectious diseases. The current focus is to develop immunotherapies and elucidate the mechanisms of protective immunity against inhalational tularemia, an acute lethal infectious disease. Tularemia is caused by the gram-negative intracellular bacterium Francisella tularensis, which has been classified as a Category A Select Agent – a likely bioweapon. The high virulence of F. tularensis and the threat of engineered antibiotic resistant variants warrant the development of new therapies to combat this disease. We are developing a recombinant polyclonal antibody for post-exposure treatment of tularemia by selecting candidate monoclonal antibodies and converting them into mouse IgG2a and IgA, and into human IgG1. The efficacy of the antibodies, alone and in combinations, are tested in an inhalational mouse model of tularemia and/or in vitro human blood infection assays, and the immune components required for antibody efficacy are determined using immunoassays for cytokines and cell subsets as well as immunodeficient mouse strains. In addition, the target antigens of these antibodies are determined by proteome microarray analysis and the potential roles of selected antigens in bacterial pathogenesis are investigated.

Lab Members

Zhaohua Lu – Postdoctoral Fellow
Marly Roche – Graduate Student
Julia Hui – Research Assistant

Recent Publications

  1. Liebman, M.A., Roche, M.I., Williams, B.R., Kim, J., Pageau, S.C., and Sharon, J. 2007. Antibody treatment of human tumor xenografts elicits active anti-tumor immunity in nude mice. Immunol. Letters 114, 16-22.
  2. Lu, Z., Roche, M.I., Hui, J.H., Unal, B., Felgner, P.L., Gulati, S., Madico, G., and Sharon, J. 2007. Generation and characterization of hybridoma antibodies for immunotherapy of tularemia. Immunol. Letters 112, 92-103.
  3. Wiberg, F.C., Rasmussen, S.K., Frandsen, T.P., Rasmussen, L.K., Tengbjerg, K., Coljee, V.W., Sharon, J., Yang, C.-Y., Bregenholt, S., Nielsen, L.S., Haurum, J.S., and Tolstrup, A.B. 2006. Production of target-specific recombinant human polyclonal antibodies in mammalian cells. Biotechnol. and Bioeng. 94, 396-405.
  4. Sharon, J., Liebman, M.A., and Williams, BR. 2005. Recombinant polyclonal antibodies for cancer therapy. J. Cell. Biochem. 96, 305-313.
  5. Liebman, M.A., Williams, B.R., Daley, K.M., and Sharon, J. 2004. Generation and preliminary characterization of an antibody library with preferential reactivity to human colorectal cancer cells as compared to normal human blood cells. Immunol. Letters. 91, 179-188.

Current Funding

P01 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases – Immuno-Prophylaxis-Therapy & Diagnosis of Tularemia; Polyclonal Antibody Libraries for Tularemia

Contact Information

Email – jsharon@bu.edu

Primary teaching affiliate
of BU School of Medicine