József Najbauer PhD

Department of Immunology and Biotechnology

Clinical Center, University of Pécs

H-7643 Pécs, Szigeti út 12, Hungary

Professional memberships (Past & Present)

American Association for the Advancement of Science, European Society for Neurochemistry, Magyar Biokémiai Egyesület, International Society for Stem Cell Research, Society for Neuro-Oncology, Society for Neuroscience

Academic editor

PLoS ONE

Education and degrees

• 1980 – M.Sc. Physics and Biophysics (cum laude) – Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest, Hungary
• 1988 – Ph.D. Medical Biology (summa cum laude) – University of Pécs Medical School, Pécs, Hungary
• 1995 – Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) Biology/Biochemistry (summa cum laude) – Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Budapest
• 2012 – Dr. Habil. Medical Sciences – University of Pécs Medical School, Pécs, Hungary

Postgraduate training

• 1988 to 1993 - Postdoctoral Research Fellow - University of California Irvine, USA

1979 to 1980 - INSTITUTE OF ENZYMOLOGY, HUNGARIAN ACADEMY OF SCIENCES, BUDAPEST, HUNGARY  Student/M.Sc. Program

Structural flexibility of IgG molecule, hydrogen-deuterium exchange and infrared spectroscopy.  Mentor: Prof. Péter Závodszky

1983 to 1988 - MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS, HUNGARY.  Research Fellow

Research in multiple sclerosis, effect of immunization with neural antigens on neurotransmitter levels in brain, cell-cell and cell-antigen interactions, effect of vitamin D derivatives, cell adherence assay for purification of antigen-specific lymphocytes and hybridoma cells.  Mentors: Prof. György Pálffy, Prof. József Tigyi

1985 to 1986 - INSTITUTE OF NEUROLOGY, LONDON, ENGLAND.  Jacqueline du Pré Fellow  

Research in multiple sclerosis, cellular and molecular mechanisms of demyelination, role of T lymphocytes and macrophages.  Mentor: Prof. Alan N. Davison

1988 - 1993 - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE, USA.  Postdoctoral Fellow

Biochemical approach for revealing methylated cellular proteins, RNA-binding proteins involved in RNA splicing, aging and damage of proteins in cells, repair by L-isoaspartyl methyltransferase.  Mentor: Prof. Dana W. Aswad

1993 - 1996 - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE, USA.  Assistant Professional Researcher

Neurobiology of learning and memory in the olfactory system, role of programmed cell death during brain development, olfactory deprivation, induction of neuronal death in the developing brain.  Laboratory head: Prof. Michael Leon

1996 - 1998 - MEDICAL UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS, HUNGARY.  Associate Professor

Teaching ‘Molecular Cell Biology’ to medical students.  Department head: Prof. József Szeberényi

1997 - 1998 - CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY, PASADENA, USA.  Associate Scientist

Neurobiology of epilepsy, seizure-induced cell death, effect of salicylic acid (aspirin metabolite) on the hippocampus of rats undergoing seizures.  Mentor: Dr. Adam N. Mamelak, MD, Laboratory heads:  Prof. Erin M. Schuman, Prof. Scott E. Fraser

1998 - 2003 - UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA IRVINE, USA.  Assistant Professional Researcher

Neuronal cell death during early postnatal brain development, pathology of spinal cord injury, role of inflammation and complement system.  Laboratory heads:  Prof. Michael Leon, Dr. Aileen J. Anderson

2003 - 2012 - CITY OF HOPE NATIONAL MEDICAL CENTER & BECKMAN RESEARCH INSTITUTE, DUARTE, CALIFORNIA, USA.  Assistant Research Professor (2003 - 2010); Associate Research Professor (2010 - 2012)

Stem cell-based delivery of therapeutic genes and antibodies to tumors, clinical trial using neural stem cells for targeted delivery of therapeutic genes to brain tumors; Quality Control Supervisor.  Biology of gliomas, tumor-host interactions, tumor hypoxia, uPAR, histone-modifying enzymes (JMJD3, UTX demethylases) in cancer, pseudosenescence of cancer cells, iron nanoparticle labeling of NSC.  Laboratory head:  Dr. Karen S. Aboody

2013 - present – UNIVERSITY OF PÉCS, CLINICAL CENTER, DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNOLOGY AND BIOTECHNOLOGY, HUNGARY.  Senior Research Fellow

Research interests: tumor immunology, autoimmunity, microbiota and immune system interactions, epigenetic regulation of the immune system.  Department head:  Prof. Péter Németh

Selected publications

1. Najbauer J, Johnson BA, Young AL, Aswad DW.  Peptides with sequences similar to glycine, arginine-rich motifs in proteins interacting with RNA are efficiently recognized bymethyltransferase(s) modifying arginine in numerous proteins.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 268:10501-10509, 1993.  IF: 6.793
2. Najbauer J, Leon M.  Olfactory experience modulates apoptosis in the developing olfactory bulb.  Brain Research 674:245-251, 1995.  IF: 2.687
3. Najbauer J, Orpiszewski J, Aswad DW.  Molecular aging of tubulin: Accumulation of isoaspartyl sites in vitro and in vivo.  Biochemistry 35:5183-5190, 1996.  IF: 4.818
4. Bjerkvig R, Tysnes BB, Aboody KS, Najbauer J, Terzis AJA.  The origin of the cancer stem cell:  current controversies and new insights.  Nature Reviews Cancer 5:899-904, 2005.  IF: 31.694
5. Aboody KS, Najbauer J, Danks MK.  Stem and progenitor cell-mediated tumor selective gene therapy.  Gene Therapy 10:739-752, 2008.  IF: 4.492
6. Frank RT, Najbauer J, Aboody KS.  Concise review: Stem cells as an emerging platform for antibody therapy of cancer.  Stem Cells, 28:2084-2087, 2010.  IF: 7.871
7. Najbauer J, Huszthy PC, Barish ME, Garcia E, Metz MZ, Myers SM, Gutova M, Frank RT, Miletic H, Kendall SE, Glackin CA, Bjerkvig R, Aboody KS.  Cellular host responses to gliomas.  PLoS ONE 7(4): e35150, 2012.  IF: 4.411 (expected IF)

Cumulative Impact Factor, Citations, Hirsch-index (http://wwww.mtmt.hu)

Könyvfejezet

Najbauer J, Danks MK, Schmidt NO, Kim SU, Aboody KS.  Neural stem cell-mediated therapy of primary and metastatic solid tumors. In: Progress in Gene Therapy, Autologous and Cancer Stem Cell Gene Therapy (Bertolotti R, Ozawa K, eds): World Scientific: Singapore, Chapter 13, pp. 335-372, 2008.

Patents

1. Najbauer J, Tigyi G, Németh P, Kilár F.  Procedure for Separation and Detection of Antigen-specific Cells.  MTA Szegedi Biológiai Központ, Szeged, Hungary.  Patented with Hungarian Patent Office (HU 1984-2689), Registry number: 196 511.  Priority date: 1984-07-10. Publication dates: HUT41128 (A) 1987-03-30, HU196511 (B) 1988-11-28. (http://worldwide.espacenet.com/)
2. Gutova M, Gevorgyan A, Shih CC, Aboody K, Najbauer J.  Identification and Characterization of Cancer Stem Cells and Methods of Use.   Department of Hematology and Hematopoietic Cell Transplantation, City of Hope National Medical Center and Beckman Research Institute, Duarte, California, USA. United States Patent US2011003386 (A1).  Priority date: 2006-03-29.  Publication date: 2011-01-06. (http://worldwide.espacenet.com/)

Place and date of birth: Draž, Croatia; May 2, 1957

Family status:  married, children: Noémi Mária (1981), Lóránt (1984), Eszter Éva (1992)