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Faculty Detail    
Name WILLIAM H BENJAMIN, JR
  
Campus Address WP P230 Zip 7331
Phone  (205) 934-0609
E-mail  bbenjami@uab.edu
Other websites
     

Education
Undergraduate  Washington State University    1972  B. S. Bacteriology and Public Health 
Graduate  Montana State University    1980  M. S. Microbiology 
Graduate  UAB    1985  Ph. D in Microbiology 


Faculty Appointment(s)
Appointment Type Department Division Rank
Primary  Clinical Pathology  Laboratory Medicine Professor

Graduate Biomedical Sciences Affiliations
Microbiology 

Biographical Sketch 
William H. Benjamin, Jr. (b1950) is an Associate Professor of Pathology and Microbiology. Dr. Benjamin received his B.S. from Washington State University (1972), and after a tour of duty in a clinical laboratory for the US army he received his M.S. from Montana State University for work on the host parasite relationship of mice and hookworms (1980). He earned his Ph.D. in microbiology from UAB (1985) for studies of bacterial genetics. Outside of work he enjoys family, bicycling, gardening and raising rabbits.

Society Memberships
Organization Name Position Held Org Link
American Society for Microbiology    http://www.asm.org/ 
Association for Molecular Pathology    http://www.ampweb.org/ 
International Union Against Tuberculosis and Lung Disease    http://www.iuatld.org/index_en.phtml 
 



Research/Clinical Interest
Title
Molecular typing of Streptococcus pneumoniae, International Diagnostics for Mycobacterium tuberculosis, epidemiology and biology of Streptococcus agalactiae UTI
Description
There are now several polysaccharide or polysaccharide protein conjugate vaccines approved and in widespread use. The clinical trials determining efficacy of these different preparations are large and expensive. The relatively low number of clinically severe infections seen in these trials makes in vitro tests that correlate with protection a very important goal. We have access to a large number of sera from multiple different vaccine trials and are developing improved ELISA and opsonophagocytosis assays which should correlate with clinical efficacy better than tests now used. Recent research has shown that serotypes not in the vaccines used in the trials are replacing the vaccine serotypes, though it is not known if these classically less virulent serotypes will have increased virulence. We are also involved in developing tests for Shigella flexneri and Shigella sonnei vaccine efficacy. Monoclonal antibodies have been produced that can be used to serotype and provide controls for vaccine efficacy testing. I am involved in discovering novel copper containing molecules that can will be effective as antimicrobial agents. Work is continuing on group B Streptococci urinary tract infections. My clinical interests include diagnostic Mycobacteriology, Parasitology and molecular diagnostics of infectious agents. I have become involved in working with nationals to develop and improve diagnostic capabilities for tuberculosis in sub-Saharan Africa.

Selected Publications 
Publication PUBMEDID
Haydel, S. E., J. E. Clark-Curtiss, N. E. Dunlap, and W. H. Benjamin, Jr. 2002. Expression, autoregulation and DNA binding properties of the Mycobacterium tuberculosis TrcR response regulator. J. Bacteriology 184:2192-2203.  11914351 
Briles, D. E., S. K. Hollingshead, J. C. Paton, E. W. Ades, L. Novak, F. W. Van Ginkel, and W. H. Benjamin, Jr. 2003. Immunizations with Pneumococcal Surface Protein A and Pneumolysin Are Protective against Pneumonia in a Murine Model of Pulmonary Infection with Streptococcus pneumoniae. J Infect Dis. 188:339-48  12870114 
Ginsburg, A. S., S. C. Woolwine, N. Hooper, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., W. R. Bishai, S. E. Dorman and T. R. Sterling (2003). "The Rapid Development of Fluoroquinolone Resistance in M. tuberculosis." N Engl J Med 349(20): 1977-1978  14614180 
Shaper, M., S. K. Hollingshead, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., and D. E. Briles. 2004, PspA protects Streptococcus pneumoniae from killing by apolactoferrin, and antibody to PspA enhances killing of Pneumococci by apolactoferrin. Infect Immun 72:5031-40  15321996 
Smythies, L. E., M. Sellers, R. H. Clements, M. Mosteller-Barnum, G. Meng, W. H. Benjamin, J. M. Orenstein, and P. D. Smith. 2005, Human intestinal macrophages display profound inflammatory anergy despite avid phagocytic and bacteriocidal activity. J Clin Invest 115:66-75  15630445  
Torii, I., S. Oka, M. Hotomi, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., T. Takai, J. F. Kearney, D. E. Briles, and H. Kubagawa. 2008. PIR-B-deficient mice are susceptible to Salmonella infection, J Immunol, vol. 181:4229-39  18768880 
Ulett, K. B., W. H. Benjamin, Jr., F. Zhuo, M. Xiao, F. Kong, G. L. Gilbert, M. A. Schembri and G. C. Ulett (2009). "Diversity of group B streptococcus serotypes causing urinary tract infection in adults." J Clin Microbiol 47(7): 2055-60.  19439533 
Ulett, G. C., R. I. Webb, K. B. Ulett, X. Cui, W. H. Benjamin, M. Crowley, and M. A. Schembri. 2010. Group B Streptococcus (GBS) urinary tract infection involves binding of GBS to bladder uroepithelium and potent but GBS-specific induction of interleukin 1alpha. J Infect Dis 201:866-70  20132033 
Wolschendorf, F., A. Duverger, J. Jones, F. H. Wagner, J. Huff, W. H. Benjamin, M. S. Saag, M. Niederweis, and O. Kutsch (2010) Hit-and-run stimulation: a novel concept to reactivate latent HIV-1 infection without cytokine gene induction. J Virol 84:8712-20  20538859 
Mirza, S., L. Wilson, W. H. Benjamin Jr, J. Novak, S. Barnes, S. K. Hollingshead, and D. E. Briles. 2011. Serine protease PrtA from Streptococcus pneumoniae plays a role in the killing of S. pneumoniae by apolactoferrin. Infection and Immunity:79:2440-2450  21422179 
Yu, Jigui, Jisheng Lin, Kyung-Hyo Kim, William H. Benjamin, Jr., and Moon H. Nahm. 2011. Development of an Automated and Multiplexed Serotyping Assay for Streptococcus pneumoniae. Clinical and Vaccine Immunology:18:1900-1907  21900529 
Tan C. K., A. J. Carey, X. Cui, R. I. Webb, D. Ipe, M. Crowley, A. W. Cripps, W. H. Benjamin Jr., K.B. Ulett, Schembri MA, Ulett GC. 2012. Genome-wide mapping of cystitis due to Streptococcus agalactiae and Escherichia coli in mice identifies a unique bladder transcriptome that signifies pathogen-specific antimicrobial defense against urinary tract infection. Infect Immun.80(9):3145-60  22733575 
Nahm, M. H., W. W. Chatham, and W. H. Benjamin, Jr. 2012 Device for Carrying Blood Samples at 37°C for Cryoglobulin Test Clinical and Vaccine Immunology 19:1555-1556  22815150 
Ulett K. B., J. H. Shuemaker, W. H. Benjamin, C. K. Tan, G. C. Ulett. 2012. Group B streptococcus cystitis presenting in a diabetic patient with a massive abdominopelvic abscess: A case report. Journal of Medical Case Reports.6:237-240  22883571 
Tan C. K., K. B. Ulett, M. Steele, W. H. Benjamin, G. C. Ulett. 2012. Prognostic value of semi-quantitative bacteruria counts in the diagnosis of group B streptococcus urinary tract infection: A 4-year retrospective study in adult patients. BMC Infectious Diseases 12:273.  23101431 
Ipe, D. S., L. Sundac, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., K. H. Moore, and G. C. Ulett. 2013. Asymptomatic Bacteriuria: Prevalence Rates of Causal Microorganisms, Etiology of Infection in Different Patient Populations, and Recent Advances in Molecular Detection. FEMS Microbiol Lett 346:1-10  23808987 
Haeili, M., C. Moore, C. J. Davis, J. B. Cochran, S. Shah, T. B. Shrestha, Y. Zhang, S. H. Bossmann, W. H. Benjamin, O. Kutsch, and F. Wolschendorf. 2014. Copper Complexation Screen Reveals Compounds with Potent Antibiotic Properties against Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus. Antimicrob Agents Chemother 58:3727-3736.
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Stripling, J., R. Kumar, J. W. Baddley, A. Nellore, P. Dixon, D. Howard, T. Ptacek, E. J. Lefkowitz, J. A. Tallaj, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., C. D. Morrow, and J. M. Rodriguez. 2015. Loss of Vancomycin-Resistant Enterococcus Fecal Dominance in an Organ Transplant Patient With Clostridium difficile Colitis After Fecal Microbiota Transplant. Open Forum Infect Dis 2:ofv078.  26180828 
Ipe, D. S., N. L. Ben Zakour, M. J. Sullivan, S. A. Beatson, K. B. Ulett, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., M. R. Davies, S. J. Dando, N. P. King, A. W. Cripps, M. A. Schembri, G. Dougan, and G. C. Ulett. 2015. Discovery and Characterization of Human-Urine Utilization by Asymptomatic-Bacteriuria-Causing Streptococcus agalactiae. Infect Immun 84:307-19.  26553467 
Kumar, R., C. L. Maynard, P. Eipers, K. T. Goldsmith, T. Ptacek, J. A. Grubbs, P. Dixon, D. Howard, D. K. Crossman, M. R. Crowley, W. H. Benjamin, Jr., E. J. Lefkowitz, C. T. Weaver, J. M. Rodriguez, and C. D. Morrow. 2016. Colonization potential to reconstitute a microbe community in patients detected early after fecal microbe transplant for recurrent C. difficile. BMC Microbiol 16:5  26758906 
Dong Y, Z. Jiang, H. Shen, W. David Pan, L. A. Williams, V. V. B. Reddy, W. H. Benjamin, A. W. Bryan. 2017 Evaluations of deep convolutional neural networks for automatic identification of malaria infected cells, p 101-104. In (ed), 2017 IEEE EMBS International Conference on Biomedical and Health Informatics, BHI  7897215 
 

Keywords
pneumococcus, bacterial pathogens, tuberculosis