Jacques Ravel

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Jacques Ravel
CitizenshipAmerican
Alma mater
Known for
  • Vaginal flora research
AwardsBlaise Pascal International Research Chair
Scientific career
Institutions

Jacques Ravel is an American microbiologist and professor, currently serving as Director at the Institute for Genome Sciences and Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Maryland School of Medicine.[1] His academic work focuses on the dynamic between microbiome and women's health, and has included research on the role of the vaginal microbiome in protecting against infections, currently explored through LUCA Biologics as part of Seed. Ravel is currently director of the Collaborative Research Center on Sexually Transmitted Diseases, exploring the 'connection between human genetic variation, sexually transmitted infections, and the functions of the vaginal microbiome', and is part of the White House's Human Microbiome Project. [2]

Academic work[edit]

Ravel's work focuses on the relationship between the human microbiome and the 'relatively neglected' vaginal microbiome.[3][4][5][6] In 2015, he was awarded the Blaise Pascal International Research Chair, to research at the Institut Pasteur in Paris.[7] His studies have primarily focused on the vagina and have included 'determining the microbial changes that may result in a common and difficult-to-control infection called bacterial vaginosis, which afflicts more than 20 million American women of childbearing age', as well as sexual diseases and others.[8][9][10] During the COVID-19 pandemic, his research lab at the University of Maryland monitored the spread of variants using 'vital genome sequencing'.[11][12]

In an interview with in 2022, he noted “There’s a major lack of innovation [in women’s health],”, and announced his research would form the basis of LUCA Biologics, a US-based biotech spinoff of Seed Inc. that The New York Times notes as developing 'probiotics for B.V. and preterm birth'.[13][14][15] Insider noted the start-up aimed to target UTIs with microbiome.[16]

2001 anthrax investigation[edit]

In 2001, the United States experienced a series of bioterrorism attacks involving letters contaminated with anthrax spores. Ravel's group sequenced the genome of four anthrax variants isolated from the samples provided by the FBI at the US Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID). Ravel pinpointed the genetic mutations associated with these variants and developed assays to detect them. The FBI used this research to screen more than 1,000 anthrax samples, ultimately identifying eight samples with matching genetic signatures, all from Bruce Ivins' RMR-1029 flask. In addition, Ravel's team sequenced the genome of a Bacillus subtilis strain found in one of the letters, which did not match a strain from Ivins' lab but could have originated elsewhere within Ivins' institution.[17][18]

References[edit]

  1. ^ Price, Joan T.; Vwalika, Bellington; France, Michael; Ravel, Jacques; Ma, Bing; Mwape, Humphrey; Rittenhouse, Katelyn J.; De Paris, Kristina; Hobbs, Marcia; Nelson, Julie A.; Kasaro, Margaret P.; Stringer, Elizabeth M.; Stringer, Jeffrey S. A. (2022-05-20). "HIV-associated vaginal microbiome and inflammation predict spontaneous preterm birth in Zambia". Scientific Reports. 12 (1): 8573. Bibcode:2022NatSR..12.8573P. doi:10.1038/s41598-022-12424-w. ISSN 2045-2322. PMC 9123167. PMID 35595739.
  2. ^ "Announcing the National Microbiome Initiative". whitehouse.gov. 2016-05-13. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  3. ^ "Breaking the bias in microbiology". Nature Microbiology. 7 (3): 341–342. March 2022. doi:10.1038/s41564-022-01086-z. ISSN 2058-5276. PMID 35246660. S2CID 247236856.
  4. ^ "Vaginal microbiome influences your risk of STIs". ABC Radio National. 2017-11-20. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  5. ^ "Why your vaginal microbiome is important". ABC News. 2017-11-22. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  6. ^ Park, Alice (2012-05-04). "No Such Thing as a 'Normal' Vagina?". Time. ISSN 0040-781X. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  7. ^ "2015 Archive - University of Maryland School of Medicine Researcher Jacques Ravel Receives Prestigious International Science Award | University of Maryland School of Medicine". www.medschool.umaryland.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  8. ^ Brody, Jane E. (2017-11-06). "Unlocking the Secrets of the Microbiome". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-28. Vagina: Jacques Ravel at the University of Maryland School of Medicine and Larry J. Forney at the University of Idaho are studying 200 women to determine the microbial changes that may result in a common and difficult-to-control infection called bacterial vaginosis, which afflicts more than 20 million American women of childbearing age.
  9. ^ "How do vaginal bacteria naturally protect against chlamydia?". www.medicalnewstoday.com. 2019-08-14. Retrieved 2022-09-28. "Chlamydia is a major growing health issue in the U.S.," says senior study author Jacques Ravel, a professor of microbiology and immunology at UMSOM, "and more work is needed to understand why some women are apparently naturally protected while other[s] are not."
  10. ^ "Determining the source of the anthrax letters". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  11. ^ "2021 Archive - UM School of Medicine Helps Maryland Conduct State-Wide Sequencing of Variants in Positive COVID-19 Test Specimens | University of Maryland School of Medicine". www.medschool.umaryland.edu. Retrieved 2022-09-28. "Viral genome sequencing can detect new variants that are circulating, and we do not yet know about."
  12. ^ "COVID Variants May Emerge That Are Not Covered By Vaccine, Scientists Warn". VOA. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  13. ^ "Bacteria and balance: how understanding the vaginal microbiome can help discover new drugs". Pharmaceutical Technology. 2022-03-23. Retrieved 2022-09-28. "There's a major lack of innovation [in women's health]," says Dr Jacques Ravel, whose more than 15 years of research into the vaginal microbiome is at the heart of LUCA Biologics, a US-based biotech developing microbiome-based living medicines for urogenital and reproductive health. LUCA is the first biotech borne from Seed Health, a venture-backed company developing microbial applications for medicine, consumer health, and the environment.
  14. ^ Gross, Rachel E. (2022-04-27). "Can Probiotics Boost Vaginal Health?". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-09-28. "That is not happening," said Jacques Ravel, a microbiologist at the University of Maryland School of Medicine who studies the vaginal microbiome. (Dr. Ravel is also chief scientist at LUCA Biologics, a biotech company developing probiotics for B.V. and preterm birth.)
  15. ^ Idrus, Amirah Al (2019-08-06). "LUCA Biologics launches to tackle women's health—through the microbiome". Fierce Biotech. Retrieved 2022-09-28. Longtime microbial researcher Jacques Ravel, Ph.D., is putting 15 years of vaginal microbiome work into a new company: LUCA Biologics, which will develop "live biotherapeutics" for various women's health conditions, ranging from bacterial infections like urinary tract infection and bacterial vaginosis to preterm birth and infertility.
  16. ^ Court, Emma. "A startup led by a former Google exec and a pioneering scientist just raised $2.8 million to tackle a little-understood condition that affects 10 million people". Business Insider. Retrieved 2022-09-28.
  17. ^ Kwok, Roberta (2009-02-25). "Anthrax investigation still yielding findings". Nature. doi:10.1038/news.2009.120. ISSN 1476-4687.
  18. ^ de Vise, Daniel (April 16, 2011). "How anthrax sleuths cracked the case by decoding genetic 'fingerprints'". The Washington Post. Retrieved September 6, 2023.
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