Dr David Ogunniyi

Biography/ Background

I have had a long-standing interest in understanding the molecular mechanisms of bacterial pathogenesis, with emphasis on the characterisation of the virulence factors involved and evaluating the potential of candidate vaccine antigens.  My PhD was conducted under the joint supervision of Professor Paul Manning, Professor Ieva Kotlarski, and Dr Renato Morona and entailed the functional characterisation of the SefA protein of Salmonella enterica serovar Enteritidis.

I commenced my postdoctoral work in Professor James Paton’s laboratory in March 1997 and began to apply the skills acquired during my studies of Salmonella pathogenesis to the molecular analysis of pneumococcal pathogenesis. Since then, I have contributed significantly to the design and execution of research projects, international research grant applications and development of new technologies.  I have successfully co-supervised 4 Honours and 3 PhD students, and I currently co-supervise 2 PhD students.  In addition to my specific area of research, I have significantly harnessed my expertise and experience to help many graduate students, colleagues and postdoctoral fellows achieve the required success in their research.

Over the years, I have developed several local and international networks of collaborations, which has helped broaden the scope of my expertise, experience, achievements, and knowledge base.

 

Qualifications

PhD, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, Australia.

MSc, Obafemi Awolowo University, Ile-Ife, Nigeria.

BSc [Hons] (First Class), University of Jos, Jos, Nigeria.

Awards & Achievements

My papers in the pneumococcal field (26 to date) are highly cited (810 citations, average citations per item=29.89; average citations per year=62.08; h index=16 as at 08/10/10), and are comparable to those of leaders in the field.  I am first or joint first author on 50% of these publications.  I publish regularly in First Rate Specialist Journals (Mol Microbiol, Infect Immun, and Microbiology-SGM) and I also publish in First rate Non-specialist Journals, such as Structure and FASEB J.  In 2000, I published a flagship manuscript demonstrating that immunisation of mice with a combination of virulence proteins provided significantly enhanced protection against virulent S.  pneumoniae challenge over that conferred by single antigens (95 citations as at 08/10/10).  I also pioneered a unique assay for measuring levels of virulence factor mRNAs in pneumococci harvested from different anatomical sites of mice at various times after infection by relative quantitative RT-PCR (published in 2002 [56 citations as at 08/10/10).  This permitted the first comparison of the relative kinetics of in vivo expression of proven pneumococcal virulence factors.  My track record also includes 6 peer-reviewed publications in other fields of Microbiology (68 citations as at 08/10/10). The current h-index of my publications is 18.

I receive speaking invitations to national and international conferences on average once a year, and regularly involved in national and international grant and manuscript reviews. I am also a co-inventor in an International Patent (PCT/KR2003/002929).

 

Research Interests

My research interest is primarily focused on understanding the molecular mechanisms of Streptococcus pneumoniae pathogenesis. This organism, also referred to as the pneumococcus, is a formidable human pathogen, responsible for massive global morbidity and mortality. It causes a broad spectrum of diseases including pneumonia, meningitis, bacteraemia and otitis media, and accounts for more deaths worldwide than any other single pathogen. The prevalence of antibiotic-resistant pneumococci is increasing rapidly, and currently available vaccines are expensive and have major shortcomings with respect to immunogenicity and/or strain coverage.

My research objectives are focused on the characterisation of novel pneumococcal virulence proteins, elucidating their specific roles in pathogenesis, and evaluating their vaccine potential, in alignment with global efforts geared towards the development of affordable and effective pneumococcal common protein vaccines. I hypothesise that identification of differentially regulated genes during disease progression from the nasopharynx to deeper host tissues may pinpoint potential vaccine antigens or drug targets. All these studies are carried out in close collaboration with Prof James Paton, the Director of Adelaide Research Centre for Infectious Diseases.

In furtherance of the aforementioned objectives, we employ contemporary molecular biology techniques and state-of-the-art technologies, including real-time quantitative reverse transcription PCR, microarray, in vivo gene expression, bioluminescent imaging, molecular cloning, targeted mutagenesis and protein expression and purification protocols. Furthermore, we use mouse challenge models and immunisation/challenge studies to gain a better understanding of pneumococcal pathogenesis and to characterise potential protein vaccine candidates.

A number of exciting Honours and PhD projects spanning these research areas are currently available. Prospective students are encouraged to make enquiries.

 

Research Funding

CIA: Meningitis Research Foundation, UK Research grant (2008-2010).

CIB: Channel 7 Research Foundation grant (2008).

CIB: National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NHMRC) Project Grant (2010-2014).

 

 

 

Publications

Selected Publications

(*denotes joint first author)

Ogunniyi, A.D., Folland, R.L., Briles, D.E., Hollingshead, S.K., and Paton, J.C. (2000). Immunization of mice with combinations of pneumococcal virulence proteins elicits enhanced protection against challenge with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 68:3028-3033.

Ogunniyi, A.D., Woodrow, M.C., Poolman, J.T., and Paton, J.C. (2001). Protection against Streptococcus pneumoniae elicited by immunization with pneumolysin and CbpA. Infect. Immun. 69:5997-6003.

Brown, J.S., *Ogunniyi, A.D., Woodrow, M.C., Holden, D.W., and Paton, J.C. (2001). Immunization with components of two iron uptake ABC transporters protects mice against systemic Streptococcus pneumoniae infection. Infect. Immun. 69:6702-6706. 

Ogunniyi, A.D., Giammarinaro, P., and Paton, J.C. (2002). The genes encoding virulence-associated proteins and the capsule of Streptococcus pneumoniae are upregulated and differentially expressed in vivo. Microbiology 148:2045–2053.

McAllister, L.J., Tseng, H., Ogunniyi, A.D., Jennings, M.P., McEwan, A.G., and Paton, J.C. (2004). Molecular analysis of the psa permease complex of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Mol. Microbiol. 53:889-901.

Kwon, H.Y., *Ogunniyi, A.D., Choi, M.H., Pyo, S.H., Rhee, D.K., and Paton, J.C. (2004). The ClpP protease of Streptococcus pneumoniae modulates virulence gene expression and protects against fatal pneumococcal challenge. Infect. Immun. 72:5646-5653.

LeMessurier, K.S., Ogunniyi, A.D., and Paton, J.C. (2006). Differential expression of key pneumococcal virulence genes in vivo. Microbiology. 152:305-311.

Ogunniyi, A.D., Grabowicz, M., Briles, D.E., Cook, J., and Paton, J.C. (2007). Development of a vaccine against invasive pneumococcal disease based on combinations of virulence proteins of Streptococcus pneumoniae. Infect. Immun. 75:350-357.

*Ogunniyi, A.D., LeMessurier, K.S., Graham, R.M.A., Watt, J.M., Briles, D.E., Stroeher, U.H., and Paton, J.C. (2007). Contributions of pneumolysin, pneumococcal surface protein A (PspA) and PspC to pathogenicity of Streptococcus pneumoniae D39 in a mouse model. Infect. Immun. 75:1843-1851.

Tu, L.N., Jeong, H.Y., Kwon, H.Y., Ogunniyi, A.D., Paton, J.C., Pyo, S.N., and Rhee, D.K. (2007). Modulation of adherence, invasion, and TNF-a secretion during the early stages of infection by Streptococcus pneumoniae ClpL. Infect. Immun. 75:2996-3005.

Mahdi, L.K., *Ogunniyi, A.D., LeMessurier, K.S., and Paton, J.C. (2008). Pneumococcal virulence gene expression and host cytokine profiles during pathogenesis of invasive disease. Infect. Immun. 76:646-657.

Ogunniyi, A.D., Paton, J.C., Kirby, A.C., McCullers, J.A., Cook, J., Hyodo, M., Hayakawa, Y., and Karaolis, D.K.R. (2008). c-di-GMP is an effective immunomodulator and vaccine adjuvant against pneumococcal infection. Vaccine. 26:4676-4685.

*Ogunniyi, A.D., Grabowicz, M., Mahdi, L.K., Cook, J., Gordon, D.L., Sadlon, T.A., and Paton, J.C. (2009). Pneumococcal histidine triad proteins are regulated by the Zn²⁺-dependent repressor AdcR and inhibit complement deposition through the recruitment of complement factor H. FASEB J. 23:731-738.

Henken, S., Bohling, J., Martens-Lobenhoffer, J., Paton, J.C., Ogunniyi, A.D., Briles, D.E., Salisbury, V.C., Wedekind, D., Bode-Böger, S.M., Welsh, T., Bange, F.C., Welte, T., and Maus, U.A. (2010). Efficacy profiles of daptomycin for treatment of invasive and noninvasive pulmonary infections with Streptococcus pneumoniae. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 54:707-717.

Henken, S., Bohling, J., Ogunniyi, A.D., Paton, J.C., Salisbury, V.C., Welte ,T., and Maus, U.A. (2010). Evaluation of biophotonic imaging to estimate bacterial burden in mice infected with highly virulent compared to less virulent Streptococcus pneumoniae serotypes. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 54:3155-3160.

Ogunniyi, A.D., Mahdi, L.K., Jennings, M.P., McEwan, A.G., McDevitt C.A., Van der Hoek, M.B., Bagley, C.J., Hoffman, P., Gould, K.A., and Paton, J.C. (2010) Central role of manganese in regulation of stress responses, physiology and metabolism in Streptococcus pneumoniae. J. Bacteriol. 192:4489-4497.

 

Professional Associations

Member, Australian Society for Microbiology (MASM)

Community Engagement

I have been actively involved in conducting tours of our laboratory to distinguished guests. During a visit to the University of Adelaide by His Excellency Rear Admiral Kevin Scarce, Governor of South Australia in September 2008, I showcased how we use state-of-the-art technologies to measure expression of bacterial virulence genes in infected mice, and explained how this information is enabling us to optimise the design and composition of vaccines that we are developing to prevent disease caused by Streptococcus pneumoniae.

Entry last updated: Friday, 8 Oct 2010