Craig Rubens MD/PhD

Craig Rubens MD/PhD
Professor
Email: click here
Phone: (206) 987-2073

Craig E. Rubens, M.D., Ph.D., is the Children’s Hospital Guild Endowed Chair for Pediatric Infectious Diseases and Chief of the Division of Infectious Diseases, Immunology, and Rheumatology in the Department of Pediatrics at the University of Washington School of Medicine. He has been a Professor of Pediatrics and Microbiology at the University of Washington since 1996 and the Chief of his Division since 1999. He has been at the University of Washington/Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center since 1982, where he completed his M.D. at the University of Washington, his pediatric residency training, and his pediatric infectious disease subspecialty certification. He has developed a basic research program investigating the bacterial pathogenesis of group B streptococcal infections during the perinatal period, pathogenesis of Group A streptococcal skin infections, and more recently has begun investigating the important biologic mechanisms involved in bacterial pneumonia, using S. aureus as a model. His work has identified important virulence traits of bacteria that are critical during the interaction with the host and for escaping innate immunity. His laboratory has also identified the genetic and biosynthetic basis for production of these virulence factors.

Dr. Rubens has held key leadership positions at the University of Washington and Children’s Hospital since 1994, including Chair of Infection Control at Children’s Hospital and Section Head for Pediatric Infectious Disease, prior to his responsibilities as Division Chief of Pediatric Infectious Diseases, Immunology, and Rheumatology. In addition, he has been an integral part of the Children’s Hospital research vision planning, including development and implementation of the 307 Westlake Research Center. Dr. Rubens is a member of several prestigious societies, including the American Society of Clinical Investigation and the American Pediatric Society, and has served as a consultant and grant reviewer for the FDA and the NIH/NIAID. He has been the Pediatric Infectious Disease Training Program Director. As an Adjunct Professor of Microbiology, Dr. Rubens also is involved in graduate student education and training, and he has served on several University of Washington committees to improve faculty and graduate education, including the Council on Appointments and Promotions. He is also a regional affiliate investigator for the Center on Human Development and Disability at the University of Washington.

Undergraduate
University of Washington, B.S., Microbiology, 1975

Medical School
University of South Carolina, Ph.D., Department of Basic and Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, 1978

University of Washington, 1982

Residency
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, 1983-84

Fellowship
Children's Hospital and Regional Medical Center/University of Washington, Infectious Disease, 1984-86

Dr. Rubens has a long-standing interest in the molecular pathogenesis of bacterial perinatal infections by gram- positive bacteria. Group B streptococci (GBS) have been shown to invade eukaryotic cells and this process may be the main mechanism used by the organism to cause disease in neonates. Molecular approaches are used to identify the genetic and biochemical basis of specific virulence traits such as epithelial/endothelial cell entry and transcytosis, evasion of innate immune mechanisms by inhibiting complement activation and phagocytic uptake, and microbial survival in various host environments (blood stream, reproductive system, and neonatal lung). Hence these projects apply both in vitro and in vivo model systems. Genetic techniques are also utilized to identify the genes and biosynthetic mechanisms important for the production of capsular polysaccharide and other virulence traits by GBS. Recently we have started a project characterizing the early stages of bacterial pneumonia by investigating the host/pathogen interaction after introducing S. aureus into the airway using genomic and proteomic techniques. This project will eventually characterize the bacterial response to the lung airway, specific traits critical for microbial persistence in the face of lung innate immunity, and have begun to characterize the host airway proteome for the proteins and other factors, which contribute to innate immune mechanisms. His laboratory is currently involved in developing a model to understand the mechanisms of preterm labor and premature birth. This model explores how bacteria ascend in the female reproductive tract to incite inflammation that leads to preterm labor and intra-amniotic infection.

1. 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.

2. 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.

3. 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. J Bacteriol 187:4615-4626.

4. Tettelin H, Masignani V, Cieslewicz MJ, Donati C, Medini D, Ward NL, Angiuoli SV, Crabtree J, Jones A, Durkin AS, DeBoy RT, Davidsen TM, Mora M, Scarselli M, Maione D, Margarity RI, Peterson JD, Hauser CR, Sundaram JP, Nelson WC, Madupu R, Brinkac LM, Dodson RJ, Rosovitz MJ, Sullivan SA, Daugherty SC, Haft DH, Selengut J, Gwinn ML, Zhou L, Zafar N, Khouri H, Radune D, Dimitrov G, Watkins K, Smith S, Utterback TR, White O, Rubens CE, Grandi G, Madoff LC, Kasper DL, Telford TL, Wessels MR, Rappuoli R, and Fraser CM. 2005. Genome analysis of multiple pathogenic isolates of Streptococcus agalactiae: Implications for the microbial "pan-genome." Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 102:13950-13955.

5. Clancy A, Loar JW, Speziali CD, Oberg M, Heinrichs DE, and Rubens CE. 2006. Evidence for siderophore-dependent iron acquisition in group B streptococcus. Mol Microbiol 59:707-21.

6. Rantanen MK, Lehtio L, Rajagopal L, Rubens CE, and Goldman A. 2006. Crystallization and preliminary crystallographic analysis of two Streptococcus agalactiae proteins, the family II inorganic pyrophosphatase, and the serine/threonine phosphatase. Acta Cryst F62:891-894.

7. Rajagopal L, Vo A, Silvestroni A, Rubens CE. 2006. Regulation of cytotoxin expression by converging eukaryotic-type and two-component signalling mechanisms in Streptococcus agalactiae. Mol Microbiol 62:941-957.

8. Braff MH, Jones AL, Skerrett SJ, Rubens CE. 2007. Staphylococcus aureus exploits cathelicidin antimicrobial peptides produced during early pneumonia to promote staphylokinase-dependent fibrinolysis. J Infect Dis 195:1365-72.

Book Chapters

1. Nizet, V, and Rubens, CE. 2006. Pathogenic mechanisms and virulence factors of group B streptococci. In: Gram-Positive Pathogens, Second Edition, V A Fischetti et al. (eds). American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC.

2. Jones, A, and Rubens, CE. 2007. Molecular pathogenesis of group B streptococcal infections. In: Molecular Biology of Streptococci, Singh Chhatwal (eds). Horizon Scientific Press, Wymondham, United Kingdom, pp 379-409.