SEATTLE -- The flu continues to claim the lives of thousands of Americans each year, but a graduate of Lake Hamilton High School is among scientists working to better understand and prevent the illness.
Lauren Gentles is a graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle and works in the Bloom Lab, which studies the molecular evolution of proteins and viruses. She is the daughter of David and Darlene Gentles.
Dr. Jesse Bloom is an associate member at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and affiliate associate professor of genome sciences and microbiology at the University of Washington. Gentles investigates how different antibodies interact when they try to bind to the flu virus.
"This is important for new influenza vaccine design because, not only do the current vaccines require annual reformulation, they at most protect 60 percent of people who receive the shot," Gentles said.
According to the Centers for Disease Control, the flu is a contagious respiratory illness caused by influenza viruses that infect the nose, throat and sometimes the lungs. It can cause mild to severe illness and the best way to prevent the flu is by getting a flu vaccine each year.
The most recent data from the CDC estimated a low of 12,000 seasonal flu deaths in one year in 2012 and a high of 56,000 in 2013. Gentles said more than 1,900 influenza tests have been positive in Arkansas since October this year.
"Current vaccines are grown in chicken eggs, which can lead to mutations in the vaccine strains which prevent the body from producing the correct antibodies against the circulating flu strain," Gentles said. "Additionally, antibodies from previous infections can interfere with the body's production of new protective antibodies. Even so, there is evidence that getting the flu vaccine can reduce the severity of flu infections even in years where the vaccine is less effective."
The total number of annual seasonal deaths is still uncertain. States are not required to report individual cases or flu deaths of adults to the CDC.
Seasonal influenza is rarely listed on death certificates of those who die from flu-related complications and many flu-related deaths occur one or two weeks after the initial infection. Patients can develop secondary bacterial co-infections, such as pneumonia, and the flu can aggravate existing chronic illnesses, such as congestive heart failure and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
According to the CDC, most who die from seasonal flu-related complications are not tested for flu or they seek medical care later in their illness when seasonal influenza can no longer be detected from respiratory samples. Tests are only likely to detect influenza if performed within a week after onset of illness.
Gentles graduated from Lake Hamilton in 2010 and majored in biology at the University of Arkansas, where she explored the field of virology. She was initially interested in the field after reading the nonfiction story, "The Hot Zone: A Terrifying True Story," by Richard Preston, in high school.
Dr. Young Min Kwon and Dr. Byung-Whi Kong co-mentored Gentles on a project to design a vaccine to protect chickens from a highly infectious poultry herpes virus, which imposes an economic strain in areas of northwest Arkansas and across the world. Gentle received a full-year undergraduate research grant from the University of Arkansas Honors College, which allowed her to complete three vaccine constructs.
Gentles defended her work before the honors college committee for her senior thesis and received the honor of summa cum laude. She was named as a contributing author on two publications for her supportive role in Kong's work.
Vaccine design was Gentles' focus during fall and spring semesters, and she spent 10 weeks in consecutive summers working with Dr. Chioma Okeoma at the University of Iowa to try to determine how chikungunya virus interacts with cells and how the cell responds. Gentles was selected into a Research Experience for Undergraduates program at the University of Iowa.
"Through this wonderful program I greatly advanced my laboratory skills and my ability to communicate scientific ideas through writing and oral presentations," Gentles said. "I began by presenting my findings from this research at the program's culminating poster session."
An honor college travel grant and a BIO REU Travel Scholarship from the National Science Foundation to present her work at the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Minority Students. She presented at the Arkansas IDeA Network in Biomedical Research Conferences in 2012 and 2013, respectively.
Gentles joined the lab of Dr. Jonathan Yewdell at the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Md., through the Postbaccalaureate Intramural Research Training Award. Yewdell was the original scientist to discover where antibodies bind on the influenza virus and envelope protein and hemagglutinin. Gentles said she hoped to learn from the lab's exciting and creative environment.
"I began on a project focused on the evolution of influenza virus, which quickly changes year to year," Gentles said. "This rapid accumulation of mutations creates the need for us to get a new flu vaccine every year.
"Many people are working to create vaccines that will be more effective for longer by making the immune system create antibodies targeting the parts of the virus that changes less frequently, but it is still unknown whether the flu can mutate to escape antibodies from even this new generation of vaccines."
Gentles spent two years at the NIH. Work on her project led her to discover virus mutations that could potentially escape new vaccination-induced antibodies.
Local on 11/26/2017