A Scientific Symposium Commemorating
the 50th Anniversary of the Development of
the Polio Vaccine
April 11 and 12, 2005
Alumni Hall, University of Pittsburgh
Polio Symposium
Speakers
- Matthias Gromeier, M.D.
- William Gruber, M.D.
- David L. Heymann, M.D.
- Robert A. Keegan
- Heidi J. Larson, Ph.D.
- Gary J. Nabel, M.D., Ph.D.
- Paul A. Offit, M.D.
- David M. Oshinsky, Ph.D.
- Tara O’Toole, M.D., M.P.H.
- Louis Piconi
- Charles R. Rinaldo Jr., Ph.D.
- John B. Robbins, M.D.
- Peter L. Salk, M.D.
- John Troan
- Julius S. Youngner, Sc.D.
Matthias Gromeier, M.D.
Assistant Professor of Molecular Genetics
and Microbiology
Duke University Medical Center
While studying the poliovirus, Dr. Gromeier, a virologist who also is a member of the research team at Duke Comprehensive Cancer Center, discovered that it can be genetically modified and used to infect and destroy malignant glioma, one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer, without infecting normal cells in the process. By crossing the virus that causes the common cold with the poliovirus, he was able to develop a variant of the poliovirus that no longer causes disease but that, upon injection into brain tumors, can kill them without harming healthy cells. The efficacy of this therapeutic treatment is now in the process of being tested, with the hope of its being cleared for clinical use someday.