Programs
Departments & Divisions
Philip Serwer, Ph.D.
Professor of Biochemistry and Structural Biology
Currently seeking M.S. & Ph.D. students
Molecular Biochemistry
Translational Applications: Tumor-Directed Drug Delivery Vehicles and Neurodegenerative Disease
We study the dynamics of the DNA packaging of bacterial viruses (bacteriophages, or phage). Our strategy is to detect, isolate and characterize intermediates in DNA packaging. This has led to (1) improved procedures for isolating environmental phages, with direct application to the phage therapy of infectious disease, (2) the isolation and characterization of capsids that have the characteristics needed for bypassing all limitations of current drug delivery vehicles and (3) translational concepts that lead to a proposed cause and therapy for neurodegenerative diseases and (4) translational concepts that suggest an improved strategy for generating anti-viral compounds with broad application.
Related diseases: Infectious Disease Caused by bacteria, Cancer, Neurodegenerative Disease (all of them), Infectious Disease caused by a virus.
Techniques: Techniques of bacterial and bacteriophage propagation, native gel electrophoresis (innovator in this area), preparative ultracentrifugation (innovator in this area), analytical ultracentrifugation (collaborative, Borries Demeler laboratory, University of Lethbridge), electron microscopy of thin sections and negative stained particles (innovator in this area), cryo-electron microscopy with symmetric and asymmetric reconstruction (collaborative: Wen Jiang laboratory, Purdue University), mass spectrometry (collaborative, Susan Weintraub laboratory, UT Health San Antonio), molecular dynamics simulation (collaborative: Paul Whitford laboratory, Northeastern University), microbial genome sequencing (collaborative, Julie Thomas laboratory, Rochester Institute of Technology).
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Professional Background
Education
- 1976 - Postdoctoral Fellowship - California Institute of Technology
- 1973 - PhD - Biophysics - Harvard University
- 1968 - MS - Microbiology - New York Medical College
- 1963 - AB - Physics - University of Rochester
Appointments
- 9/1985 - Professor - The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, Biochemistry, San Antonio
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Instruction & Training
- 1/2009 - Present, Membership on Supervising Committee, UTHSCSA
- 8/2008 - Present, Membership on Supervising Committee, UTHSCSA
- Present, Biophysical Methods, BIOC 5085, course director, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Biological Foundations, Human Health and Disease, DHHD 5004, Dental School, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Foundations of Tooth Development, Oral Health and Disease, Human Health and Disease, DHHD 5001, Dental School, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Biology for Bioengineers, BIME 6004, UTSA/UTHSA Biomedical Engineering Program, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Clinical Research and Evidenced Based Medicine, 6013-FF, Medical School, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Chair Tenure and Promotions Committee, Biochemistry/Structural Biology, UT Health San Antonio
- Present, Faculty Council of the School of Dentistry, UT Health San Antonio
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Publications
- Using the Past to Maximize the Success Probability of Future Anti-Viral Vaccines
- Phage G Structure at 6.1 Å Resolution, Condensed DNA, and Host Identity Revision to a Lysinibacillus
- Optimizing Anti-Viral Vaccine Responses: Input from a Non-Specialist
- Phage capsids as gated, long-persistence, uniform drug delivery vehicles
- In-Gel Isolation and Characterization of Large (and Other) Phages
- Electron microscopy of in-plaque phage T3 assembly: Proposed analogs of neurodegenerative disease triggers
- High murine blood persistence of phage T3 and suggested strategy for phage therapy
- Cell–gel interactions of in-gel propagating bacteria
- Nanomedicine and phage capsids
- States of phage T3/T7 capsids: buoyant density centrifugation and cryo-EM
- Hypothesis for the cause and therapy of neurodegenerative diseases
- ATP-Driven Contraction of Phage T3 Capsids with DNA Incompletely Packaged In Vivo
- Restoring logic and data to phage-cures for infectious disease
- Testing a proposed paradigm shift in analysis of phage DNA packaging
- Methods and compositions for bacteriophage therapy
- Methods of isolating bacterial strains
- Drug delivery vehicles
- 30 Illuminating obscure states of the phage T3 DNA packaging motor
- Enhancing and initiating phage-based therapies
- Capsid expansion mechanism of bacteriophage T7 revealed by multistate atomic models derived from cryo-EM reconstructions
- Single-step antibody-based affinity cryo-electron microscopy for imaging and structural analysis of macromolecular assemblies
- Length quantization of DNA partially expelled from heads of a bacteriophage T3 mutant
- Single-step antibody-based affinity cryo-electron microscopy
- The XXIIIrd phage/virus assembly meeting
- Simulations of phage T7 capsid expansion reveal the role of molecular sterics on dynamics Viruses 2020, 12(11), 1273
Journal Article
Serwer, P., Wright, E.T, Schirf, V. and Demeler, B. Preparative and analytical centrifugation of phage assembly intermediates: Use of Nycodenz/Metrizamide for density gradients Bacteriophages: methods and protocols 2016 Jan;