Daniel Simon Email & Phone Number

Shanghai City, China

Shanghai City, China

Teaching Introduction to Computer Programing (Python).

Hørsholm

Bethesda, Maryland

• Hire, train a supervise two technicians and one Ph.D. immunologist• Design and implement research plans for antibiotics and vaccine testing• Keep track of the budget• Maintain IACUC assurances for product and vaccine testing• Refine the Neisseria gonorrhoeae mouse infection model• Write and submit reports

Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

• Lecturer, first year graduate student bacterial pathogenesis (three lectures)• Course Director, second year graduate student bacterial pathogenesis (16 lectures)• Medical Microbiology Lab, medical students (22 contact hours, grading)• Member, Department of Micro. & Immuno. Biological Safety Committee• Research on Bacillus anthracis regulation of virulence factors

Vienna, Austria

• Director, molecular biology research, bacterial vaccine unit.• Assured that the laboratory was working according to Good Laboratory Practice (GLP)• Wrote research plans and reports• Wrote and enforced Standard Operating Procedures• With human resources, interviewed and hired new collaborators• Directed antigen expression in Escherichia coli and Pichia pastoris• Successfully developed a diagnostic test for Borrelia burgdorferi from human skin biopsies• Performed scientific and technological monitoring• I was hired to contribute to the development of a vaccine against European borreliosis. The role of the molecular biology lab was to perform research, contribute to the development of the vaccine and support clinical studies. My lab was first involved in epidemiological studies to select the combination of antigens to be used in the vaccine; Outer surface protein C (OspC) was chosen. We sequenced the ospC gene from 382 isolates from 18 European countries where borreliosis incidence is high. We then classified OspC into homology groups to determine which were most associated with human disease. From this work, the candidate vaccine, retaining only 14 ospC, was selected. For routine lab studies the ospC were cloned and expressed in E. coli but for clinical studies and vaccine production it was expressed in Pichia pastoris. All work was performed under GLP. To support clinical studies, I was asked to develop a diagnostics test for borreliosis from human skin biopsies. We developed two tests, a single tube nested PCR and Real-Time PCR.

Verona, Italy

• Designed and implemented new research plans• Initiated and monitored collaborations with academic groups• Reported results internally and externally in scientific journals and international congresses• Directed molecular biology and animal studies applied to bacterial pathogenesis.• Participated in Streptococcus pneumoniae genome sequencing and sequence annotation• In this position, I was hired to initiate and lead a research program in bacterial pathogenesis. The goal of the new program was to study the possibility of developing new molecules that interfered with key processes in bacterial pathogenesis, in order to fight bacterial infections and disease. As project leader, I wrote research proposals on large-scale (genomic and proteomic) identification of virulence factors in Streptococcus pneumoniae. In the course of studies, I identified and initiated academic collaborations and monitored them throughout. We specifically developed – for the first time – methods for transforming virulent, encapsulated S. pneumoniae, and we studied new virulence factors for S. pneumoniae. I developed and directed two new mouse model studies for pneumococci, a pneumonia model and a speticemia model.

Ph.D., Microbiology

Master, Cell And Molecular Biolgy