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Pathology and Microbiology

Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.

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ACADEMIC DEGREES:
Education:
Univ. of North Dakota B.S. 1976
Univ. of North Dakota B.S. 1978 Medicine
Univ. of North Dakota M.D. 1980 Medicine

Post-degree Training:
University of California, Davis Categorical Intern in Pathology, 1980-1981
University of California, Davis Resident, Anatomic and Clinical Pathology, 1980-1984
Medical Staff Fellow, Laboratory of Molecular Virology, National Institutes of Health, 1985-87

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Contact Name: Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D. 
Phone Number: 402-559-7203 
e-mail address: shinrich@unmc.ed

Contact Name: Mary Ann King
Phone Number: 402-559-7203
e-mail address: mking@unmc.edu

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Research Projects Ongoing
Title:  Nebraska Bioterrorism Plan
Funding agency: HRSA
Project period:  09/01/04-08/31/05
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, Tony Sambol
Purpose:  Establish enhanced capability for response to biological events of state and national concern.

Title:  FY 04 Homeland Security Grant Program (SHSP)
Funding agency:  NEMA
Project period:  12/01/04-5/31/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Contribute to state-wide emergency preparedness through leveraging the resources of the University of Nebraska.

Title:  National Electronic Disease Surveillance System
Funding agency:  DHHS
Project Period:  2/1/05-12/31/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Provide contract services for administration of state NEDSS program.

Title:  FY 2005 Department of Homeland Security - LETPP
Funding agency:  NEMA
Project Period:  4/1/2005-3/31/07
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Protect critical infrastructure for use in response to emergencies.

Title:  Department of Homeland Security SHSG
Funding agency:  NEMA
Project Period:  4/1/05-3/31/07
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Improve communications within UNS system.

Title:  New Therapeutic Strategies for Antibiotic Resistant Select Agents
Funding agency:  DoD
Project Period:  5/15/05-11/14/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Develop novel strategy for treatment of antibiotic resistant organism.

Title:  Bioterrorism Laboratory Services Agreement, CT, Focus Area D
Funding agency:  HRSA
Project Period:  9/1/05-9/30/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose: Develop level II chemical terrorism laboratory capability. 

Title:  Bioterrorism Laboratory Services Agreement, BT Focus Area C
Funding agency:  HRSA
Project Period:  9/1/05-9/30/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Improve preparedness for Bioterrorism-related events in Nebraska.

Title:  Proteomic Approach to Identification of Proteins for Evaluation in New Diagnostic Tests
Funding agency:  AFIP
Project Period:  8/15/05-2/15/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Explore protein-based methods for identification of select agents.

Title:  Neurotoxin Mitigation
Funding agency:  US Army
Project Period:  10/21/05-11/21/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Develop novel approaches for treatment of exposure to organophosphate poisons.

Title:  Neurotoxin Mitigation
Funding agency:  US Army
Project Period:  10/21-05-11/21/06
Principal Investigator:  Oksana Loughridge
Secondary Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Identify markers of exposure to organophosphate poisons.

Title:  Nebraska Bioterrorism Plan, Focus Area D, Laboratory Capacity, Chemical Agents
Funding agency’s name: State of Nebraska CDC Cooperative Agreement
Total project period:  08/31/03-08/31/05 – renewed through 9/30/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  This project extends the capability of NPHL to detect chemical agents.

Title:  Bioterrorism Laboratory Services Agreement
Funding agency’s name: State of Nebraska CDC Cooperative Agreement
Total project period:  07/01/02-06/30/05
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  This grant provides basic operational support for the NPHL Bioterrorism program.

Title:  “Gene and protein therapy for poisoning by organophosporus agents”
Funding agency’s name:  U.S. Army
Total project period:  09/01/01 – 08/31/05
Principal Investigator:  Oksana Lockridge, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  The goal of this project is to determine the feasibility of replacing AChE activity using mutant (knockout) mice

Title:  Nebraska Center for Rural Biosecurity
Funding agency:  CDC
Project period:  07/04 - 06/05
Funding Amount:  $931,901                   
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Establish a coordinated program for electronic registration of health care workforce and data exchange between laboratories.

Title:  Nebraska High Performance Wireless Research and Education Network
Funding agency:  NRI
Project period:  07/2004-07/2006
Funding amount:  $345,357
Principal Investigator:  Hesham Ali
Co-Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs
Purpose:  Develop new approaches for monitoring of quality and safety in the medical setting.

Title:  Mid-America Alliance
Funding agency’s name: State of Nebraska
Total project period:  08/30/04-08/31/05 renewed through 9/30/06
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  The goal of this project is to establish a framework for mutual aid between states in the Midwest to address public health events that do not initiate a governor declared emergency.

Title:  Critical Reagents Program 
Funding agency’s name: US Army Space and Missile Defense Command
Total project period:  08/25/04-08/24/05
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  The purpose of this project is to develop new diagnostic approaches and reagents for the identification of biological weapons of concern to the US military.

Title:  Nebraska Center for Rural Biosecurity
Funding agency’s name:  DHHS/CDC Cooperative Agreement
Total project period:  08/01/04-07/31/05
Principal Investigator:  Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  Establish a coordinated program for electronic registration of health care workforce and data exchange between laboratories.

 Research Projects Recently Completed

Title:  Nonclassical functions of acetylcholinesterase
Funding agency’s name:  NIH
Total project period:  04/01/00-03/31/04
Principal Investigator:  Oskana Lockridge, Ph.D.
Co-Investigator:             Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Purpose:  This grant established the importance of butyl cholinesterase as a second enzyme capable of maintaining life function in a knockout animal.

Title:  Molecular characterization and pathogenesis of Francisella tularensis
Funding agency’s name:  UNL/UNMC Vice Chancellors for Research
Total project period:  04/01/00-03/31/04
Co-Principal Investigator:  Mike Meagher, Ph.D. / Steven H. Hinrichs, M.D.
Co-Investigator:                  Peter C. Iwen, Ph.D.

Purpose:  As a Select Agent Registered facility, this work involves the molecular characterization of F. tularensis for the isolation of pathogenesis genes and for the development of vaccine candidates.

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Fey, Paul D, Wickert RS, Rupp ME, Safranek TJ, Hinrichs SH.  Prevalence of Non-0157:H7 Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli in diarrheal stool samples from Nebraska.  Emerging Infectious Diseases 6:530-33, Sept-Oct 2000.

Fey PD, Safranek TJ, Rupp ME, Dunne EF, Ribot E, Iwen PC, Bradford PA, Angulo FJ, Hinrichs SH.  Ceftriaxone-resistant Salmonella infection acquired by a child from cattle.  The New England Journal of Medicine 342 (17):1242-49, 2000.

Henry T, Iwen PC, Hinrichs SH.  Identification of Aspergillus species using internal transcribed spacer regions 1 and 2.  Journal of Clinical Microbiology, 38(4):1510-1515, April 2000.

Olsen, RJ, Hinrichs SH.  Phosphorylation of the EWS IQ domain regulates transcriptional activity of the EWS/ATF1 and EWS/FL11 fusion proteins.  Oncogene 20(14):1756-64 March, 2001.

Mazlo J, Stanfield RL, Wilson IA, Hinrichs SH, Stezowski JJ.  Preliminary X-ray diffraction studies of the transcriptional inhibitory antibody Fab41.4.  Acta Crystallogr D Biol Crystallogr 57, 462-464, 2001.

Olsen, RJ, Hinrichs SH.  Phosphorylation of the EWS IQ domain regulates transcriptional activity of the EWS/ATF1 and EWS/FL11 fusion proteins.  Oncogene 20(14): 1756-64 March, 2001

Carattoli A, Tosini F, Giles WP, Rupp ME, Hinrichs SH, Angulo FJ, Barrett TJ, Fey PD.  Characterization of plasmids carrying CMY-2 from expanded-spectrum cephalosporin-resistant Salmonella strains isolated in the United States between 1996 and 1998.  Antimicrob Agents Chemother  46(5):1269-1272, 2002..

Iwen PC, Hinrichs SH, Rupp ME.  Utilization of the internal transcribed spacer regions as molecular targets to detect and identify human fungal pathogens.  Medical Mycology, 40(1):87-109, 2002.

Olsen RJ, Tarantolo SR, Hinichs SH.  Molecular approaches to sarcoma therapy.  Sarcoma 6(1):27-42, March, 2002.

Liang MH, Geisbert T, Yao Y, Hinrichs SH, Giam CZ.  Human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 oncoprotein tax promotes S-phase entry but blocks mitosis.  J Virol. Apr; (8):4022-33, 2002.

Duysen EG, Stribley JA, Fry DL, Hinrichs SH, Lockridge O.  Rescue of acetylcholinesterase knockout mouse by feeding a liquid diet; phenotype of the adult acetylcholinesterase deficient mouse.  Brain Res Dev Brain Res, 137(1):43-54 July, 2002.

Fey PD, Said-Salim B, Rupp ME, Hinrichs SH, Boxrud DJ, Davis CC, Kreiswirth BN, Schlievert PM.  Comparative molecular analysis of community-or hospital-acquired Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus.  Antimicrob Agents & Chemo, 47(1):196-202, January, 2003.

Stickle DF, McKenzie DA, Landmark JD, Pirruccello SJ, Post GA, Iwen PC, Thompson RD, Hinrichs SH.  Effects of sterilizing gamma irradiation on bloodspot newborn screening tests and on whole blood cyclosporine and tacrolimus measurements. Am J Clin Pathol,119(2):292- Feb, 2003.

Tarkin IS, Henry TJ, Fey PI, Iwen PC, Hinrichs SH.  PCR rapidly detects methicillin resistant staphylococci periprosthetic infection.  Clin Orthop.  (414):89-94, Sep, 2003.

Stickle DF, Birch NC, Pirruccello SJ, Hinrichs SH.  Urine specimen integrity monitoring using the Vitros creatinine assay.  Clin Chem Acta. 334(1-2):253-5, Aug, 2003.

Bastola DR, Out HH, Doukas S, Sayood K, Hinrichs SH, Iwen P.  Utilization of the relative complexity measure to construct a phylogenetic tree for fungi.  Mycol Res , 107(0):1-10, 2003.

Olsen RJ, Mazlo J, Koepsell SA, McKeithan TW, Hinrichs SH.  Minimal structural elements of inhibitory anti-ATF1/CREB single-chain antibody fragment (scFv41.4).  Hybrid Hybridomics, 22(2):65-77, April, 2003.

Birch NC, Stickle DF, Young A, Medina P, Hinrichs SH.  Evaluation of urine specimen integrity in a public health STD screening program.  Am J Clin Pathol, 119(4):516-21, April, 2003.

Mohamed AM, Bastola DR, Morlock GP, Cooksey RC, Hinrichs SH.  Temperature-mediated heteroduplex analysis for detection of pncA mutations associated with prrazinamide resistance and differentiation between Mycobacterium tuberculosis and Mycobacterium bovis by denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography.  J Clin Microbiol, 42(3):  1016-23, March, 2004.

Iwen PC, Freifeld AG, Bruening TA, Hinrichs SH.  Use of a Panfungal PCR assay for detection of fungal pathogens in a commercial blood culture system.  J Clin Microbiol 42(5):  2292-3, May 2204.

Samrakandi MM, Zhang C, Zhang M, Nietfeldt J, Kim J, Iwen PC, Olson ME, Fey PD, Duhamel GE, Hinrichs SH, Cirillo JD, Benson AK.  Genome diversity among regional populations of Francisella tularensis subspecies tularensis and Francisella tularensis subspecies holarctica isolated from the US.  FEMS Microbiol Lett 237(1):9-17, Aug 1, 2004.

Koepsell S, Bastola D, Hinrichs SH, Griep MA.  Thermally denaturing high-performance liquid chromatography and analysis of primase activity.  Anal Biochem 332(2):  330-6, Sep 15, 2004.

Mohamed AM, Iwen PC, Tarantolo S, Hinrichs SH.  Mycobacterium nebraskense sp. nov., a novel slowly growing scotochromogenic species.  Int J Syst Evol Microbiol 54 (Pt 6):  2057-60, Nov 2004

Mohamed AM, Kuyper DJ, Iwen PC, Ali HH, Bastola DR, Hinrichs SH.  Computational approach for the identification of Mycobacterium species using the internal transcribed spacer-1 region.  J Clin. Microbiol. Aug 2005  3811-3817.

Koepsell, SA, Hanson, S, Hinrichs SH, Griep, MA.   Fluorometric Assay for Bacterial Primases.  Anal Biochem.  2005  339: 353-355.

Chandio SH, Bastola DR, Iwen PC, Hinrichs SH.  Identification of Pathogenic Fungi Using Computational and

Molecular Biological Approaches.  The 2005 IEEE International Conference on Electro Information Technology, May 22-25, Lincoln, NE

Olsen RJ, Lydiatt WM, Koepsell SA, Lydiatt D, Johansson SL, Naumann S, Bridge JA, Neff JR, Hinrichs SH, Tarantolo SR.  C-erb-B2(HER2/neu) Expression in Synovial Sarcoma of the Head and Neck.  Head&Neck  27 pp. 883-892, 2005

Schweitzer BK, Kramer WL, Sambol AR, Meza JL, Hinrichs SH, Iwen PC.  Geographic Factors Contributing to a High Seroprevalence of Wet Nile Virus-Specific Antibodies in Humans Following an Epidemic.  Clin Vaccine Immunol. 2006 Mar; 13(3):314-8.

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  • PREVIOUS GRADUATE STUDENTS/POST-DOCTORAL FELLOWS (present location):

Joseph Fontes, 1990 - 1994, Ph.D. student, graduate advisor, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH
Amber Krause, 1994 - 1998, Ph.D. student, graduate advisor; Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Joseph Bosilevac, 1992 - 1998, Ph.D. student, graduate advisor, University of VA, Richmond, VA
Randall Olsen, 1998 - 2001 M.D./Ph.D. student, graduate advisor, MD Anderson, Houston, TX
Amr Mohammed, 2000-2004, Ph.D. student, graduate advisor, Assuit University, Assuit, Egypt
Travis Henry, 2001-2005, Ph.D. student, postdoc, Mayo Clinic, Scottsdale, AZ
Scott Koepsell, 2002-2005, M.D./Ph.D. student, 3rd year medical school UNMC, Omaha, NE

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Research projects in Dr. Hinrichs’ laboratory are focused on three distinct areas of interest:  molecular microbiology, regulation of gene expression and protein structure.  A method has been developed for inhibiting tumor specific proteins that initiate cancer in certain types of tumors.   The method incorporates knowledge regarding biochemical abnormalities in cells following changes in the chromosome, called translocations.  These chromosomal events result in the production of new combinations of proteins that do not exist in normal cells.  These combinations, termed chimeric proteins, are optimal targets for development of therapeutic molecules.  Significant advances have been made using structural biochemistry and molecular modeling to develop lead compounds that were used to test and develop a model system.  This work has lately evolved into a new project focused on inhibiting the activity of essential replication enzymes in bacteria.  The project envisions the need for a new class of antibiotics in the future or for antibiotics that can be used to treat genetically engineered bacteria released by terrorists.  Molecular modeling was used to suggest targets for mutagenesis and confirmation of function in vitro.  The work involves collaboration with a wide range of scientists from electrical engineering to chemistry.  A separate project is focused on the development of the next generation of molecular diagnostic tests for the detection and identification of infectious diseases.

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Dr. Steven Hinrichs is Professor in the Department of Pathology and Microbiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha and the Director of the Nebraska Public Health Laboratory (NPHL), and Director of the University of Nebraska Center for Biosecurity.  In his position as laboratory director he has been responsible for the development of a statewide program for the rapid identification of biological agents of mass destruction.  He is principal investigator of one of three national awards from the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for the development of an outreach program to extend training and expertise in the early recognition of biological agents at the community level.

Dr. Hinrichs is Chair of the APHL committee on Management and Information Systems and is a strong advocate for further development of communication systems and electronic infrastructure in rural states. Under his direction, the NPHL was one of the first public health laboratories in the country to develop internet-based test ordering and reporting capabilities with the ultimate goal of real-time identification of emerging epidemics.

Dr. Hinrichs' medical background includes board certification in anatomic and clinical pathology after completion of a residency at the University of California, Davis Medical Center.  His research laboratory focuses on molecular diagnostics and the role of viruses in cancer.  Dr. Hinrichs has published over 116 papers in basic science and medical journals.

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