National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute program in
Acute Lung Injury
Specialized Centers of Clinically Oriented Research (ALI SCCOR)

POSITIONS AND HONORS

1987-1991         Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1989-1991         Adjunct Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
1991-                Adjunct Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Washington, Seattle
1991-1996         Associate Professor, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington, Seattle
1991-                Infection Control Officer, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle
1992-1993         Acting Chief, Division of Infectious Disease, Children’s Hospital and Medical Center, Seattle
1995-2000         BM2 NIH Study Section Permanent Member
1996-                Professor of Pediatrics, Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington,
                        Seattle Section Head, Department of Pediatrics, Division of Infectious Disease,
                        Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, Seattle
1997- 1999        Assistant Division Chief, Department of Infectious Disease, Immunology and Rheumatology,
                        Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington
1999-present     Division Chief, Department of Infectious Disease, Immunology and Rheumatology,
                        Department of Pediatrics, University of Washington School of Medicine, Seattle, Washington

SELECTED PEER-REVIEWED PUBLICATIONS  (37 0f 95)

1.             Bohnsack, JF, Widjaja, K, Ghazizadeh, S, Rubens, CE, Hillyard, DR, Parker, CJ, et al.  1997.  A role for C5 and C5a-ase in the acute neutrophil response to group B streptococcal infections.  J Infect Dis 175: 847-855.

2.             Darmstadt G, Fleckman P, Jonas M, Chi E, and Rubens CE.  1998. Differentiation of cultured keratinocytes promotes the adherence of Streptococcus pyogenes.  J Clin Invest 101:128-136.

3.             Yim, HH, and Rubens, CE.  1997.  The use of a dental amalgamator to extract RNA from the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus agalactiae.  BioTechniques, 23: 229-231.

4.             Framson PE, Nittayajarn A, Merry J, Youngman P, and Rubens CE.  1997.  New genetic techniques for Group B Streptococcus: high efficiency transformation, maintenance of temperature-sensitive pWV01 plasmids, and mutagenesis with Tn917.  Appl Environ Microbiol, 63:3539-3547.

5.             Nizet V, Sik Kim K, Stins M, Jonas M, Chi EY, Nguyen D, and Rubens CE.  1997.  Invasion of brain microvascular endothelial cells by group B streptococci.  Infect Immun 65:5074-5081.

6.             Chaffin DO, and Rubens, CE.  1998.  Blue/white screening of recombinant plasmids in gram-positive bacteria by interruption of alkaline phosphatase gene (phoZ) expression. Gene, 219(1-2):91-99.

7.             Winram, S, Jonas M, Chi E, and Rubens CE.  1998.  Characterization of group B streptococcal invasion of human chorion and amnion epithelial cells in vitro. Infect Immun, 66:10;4932-4941.

8.             Yim H, and Rubens CE.  1998. Site specific homologous recombination mutagenesis in GBS. Methods in Cell Sci, 20:13-20.

9.             Winram S, Tamura G, and Rubens CE.  1998.  In vitro systems for investigating group B streptococcal host cell and extracellular matrix interactions. Methods in Cell Sci 20:191-201.

10.         Lee M, Nittayajarn A, and Rubens CE.  1998.  End-probing: A non-radioactive approach to mapping transposon insertions.  Methods in Cell Sci 20:113-118.

11.         Nizet V, Ferrieri P, and Rubens CE.  1999.  Molecular pathogenesis of GBS disease in newborns. In: Streptococcal Infections, (eds). Stevens, D. and Kaplan, E.  Oxford University Press, New York, NY.

12.         Nizet V, Smith, AL, Sullam, PM, and CE Rubens.  1999.  A simple microtiter plate screening assay for bacterial invasion of adherence. Methods in Cell Sci, 00:1-5.

13.         Darmstadt G, Fleckman P, and Rubens CE.  1999.  TNF-a and IL-1a decrease the adherence of Streptococcus pyogenes to keratinocytes.  J Infect Dis 180:1718-1721.

14.         Gibson R, Nizet V, and Rubens CE.  1999.  Group B streptococcal b-hemolysin promotes injury of lung microvascular endothelial cells in vitro. Pediatr Res 45:626-34.

15.         Lee M, Nittayajarn A, Ross RP, Rubens CE, et al.  1999.  Characterization of Enterococcus faecalis alkaline phosphatase and use in identifying Streptococcus agalactiae secreted proteins.  J Bacteriol 181:5790-5799.

16.         Darmstadt GL, Fleckman P, Rubens CE. 1999. Role of keratinocyte injury in adherence of Streptococcus pyogenes. Infect Immun 67:6707-6709.

17.         Tamura GS, Przekwas JA, Herndon MD, Rubens CE, Ferrieri P, Hillier SL. 2000. Analysis of restriction fragment length polymorphisms of the insertion sequence IS1381 in group B streptococci. J Infect Dis 181:364-368.

18.         Charland N, Nizet V, Rubens CE, Kim KS, Lacouture S, Gottschalk M. 2000. Streptococcus suis serotype 2 interactions with human brain microvascular endothelial cells. Infect Immun 68:637-643.

19.         Darmstadt GL, Mentele L, Podbielski A, Rubens CE. 2000. Role of group A streptococcal virulence factors in adherence to keratinocytes. Infect Immun 68:1215-1221.

20.         Chaffin DO, Beres SB, Yim HH, Rubens CE. 2000. The serotype of type Ia and III GBS is determined by the polymerase gene within the polycistronic capsule operon. J Bacteriol 182:4466-4477.

21.         Jones, AL, Knoll KM, Rubens CE. 2000. Identification of Streptococcus agalactiae virulence genes in the neonatal rat sepsis model using signature-tagged mutagenesis. Mol Microbiol 37(6):1444.

22.         Daines DA, Wright LF, Chaffin DO, Rubens CE, and Silver RP. 2000. NeuD plays a role in the synthesis of sialic acid in Escherichia coli K1. Fems Microbiol Lett 189(2):281-284.

23.         Bensing BA, Rubens CE, Sullam PM. 2001. Genetic loci of Streptococcus mitis that mediate binding to human platelets. Infect Immun 69(3) 1373-1380.

24.         Pritzlaff CA, Chang JCW, Kuo SP, Tamura GS, Rubens CE, and Nizet V. 2001. Genetic basis for the b-hemolytic/cytolytic activity of group B streptococcus. Mol Microbiol 39(0):1-13.

25.         Beckmann C, Waggoner JD, Harris TO, Tamura GS, and Rubens CE. 2002. Identification of novel adhesins from group B streptococci using phage display reveals that C5a peptidase mediates fibronectin binding. Infect Immun. 70:2869-2876.

26.         Chaffin DO, McKinnon K, and Rubens CE. 2002. CpsK of Streptococcus agalactiae exhibits a 2,3-sialyltransferase activity in Haemophilus ducreyi. Mol Microbiol 45(1):109-122.

27.         Jones AL, Needham RHV, Clancy KA, Knoll KM, and Rubens CE. 2003. Penicillin-binding proteins in Streptococcus agalactiae; a novel mechanism for evasion of immune clearance. Mol Microbiol 47(1):247-256.

28.         Harris TO, Shelver DW, Bohnsack JF, and Rubens CE. 2003. A novel streptococcal surface protease promotes virulence, resistance to opsonophagocytosis, and cleavage of human fibrinogen. J of Clin Invest 111(1):61-70.

29.         Rajagopal L., Clancy A, Rubens, C. 2003. A eukaryotic-type serine/threonine kinase and phosphatase in Streptococcus agalactiae reversibly phosphorylate an inorganic pyrophosphatase & affect growth, cell segregation & virulence. J Biol Chem 278:14429-14441.

30.         Jones AL, Needham RHV, and Rubens CE. 2003. The delta subunit of RNA polymerase is required for virulence of Streptococcus agalactiae. Infect Immun 71:4011-4017.

31.         Shelver D, Rajagopal L, Harris TO, and Rubens CE. 2003. MtaR, a regulator of methionine transport, is critical for survival of group B streptococcus in vivo. J Bacteriol 185:6592-6599.

32.         Vann WF, Daines DA, Murkin AS, Tanner ME, Chaffin DO, Rubens CE, Vionnet J, and Silver RP. 2004. The NeuC protein of Escherichia coli K1 is a UDP N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase. J Bacteriol 186:706-712.

33.         Borchardt SM, Foxman B, Chaffin DO, Rubens CE, Tallman PA, Manning SD, Baker CJ, and Marrs CF. 2004. Comparison of DNA dot blot hybridization and Lancefield capillary precipitin methods for group B streptococcal capsular typing. J Clin Microbiol 42:146-150.

34.         Clancy A, Lee MH, Jones AL, and Rubens CE. 2004. Construction and characterization of transposon TnphoZ for the identification of genes encoding exported proteins in Streptococcus agalactiae. FEMS Microbiol Lett 241:257-264.

35.         Cieslewicz MJ, Chaffin D, Glusman G, Kasper D, Madan A, Rodrigues S, Fahey J, Wessels MR, and Rubens CE. 2005. Structural and genetic diversity of group B Streptococcus capsular polysaccharides. Infect Immun 73:3096-3103.

36.         Rajagopal L, Vo A, Silvestroni A, Rubens CE. 2005. Regulation of purine biosynthesis by a eukaryotic-type kinase in Streptococcus agalactiae. Mol Microbiol 56:1329-1346.

37.         Chaffin DO, Mentele LM, and Rubens CE. 2005. Sialylation of group B streptococcal capsular polysaccharide is mediated by cpsK and is required for optimal capsule polymerization and expression. In press, J Bacteriol.