W. F. Hink

I have two areas of research. The first is expression of proteins for therapeutic and diagnostic uses in insect cell culture. A wide variety of genes from viruses, fungi, bacteria, plants, and animals have been expressed in insect cells infected with baculovirus vectors. The major advantage of the baculovirus-insect cell system over bacterial, yeast, and mammalian expression systems is the very abundant expression of recombinant proteins that are antigenically, immunogenically, and functionally similar to their authentic counterparts.

There is strong clinical evidence that venom from the tropical ant, Pseudomyrmex triplarinus, has therapeutic value in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis. The principal objective of our work is to isolate and chemically characterize the compounds in venom that have anti-inflammatory activities. The second objective is to gain an understanding of the mechanisms of action of the pure active factors. Once these are known, it should be possible to critically evaluate their potentials for treatment of rheumatoid arthritis or other inflammatory diseases.

Key Citations:

Hink, W.F., P.W. Pappas and D.C. Jaworski. 1994. Partical biochemical characterization of venom from the ant, Pseudomyrmex triplarinus. Toxicon 32:763-772.

Hing, W.F., M. Zakson and S. Barnett. 1994. Evaluation of a single oral dose of lufenuron to control flea infestations in dogs. Am. J. Vet. Res. 55:822-824.

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