Elijah Paintsil MBChB, MD

Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Disease) and of Pharmacology

Research Interests

HIV translational research; cellular pharmacology of HIV-RT inhibitors in relation to clinical toxicities; Fitness and evolution of HIV drug resistant mutants; Molecular epidemiology and dynamics of HIV/HCV transmission

Current Projects

  1. Viability of HCV in Syringes using a Novel Microculture System This study examines how long Hepatitis C virus survives in syringes at different storage conditions.
  2. HIV Nucleoside Analogs Translational Studies: Resistance and Metabolism This study will examine individual differences in intracellular concentration of nucleoside analogs in relation to toxicity and resistance evolution.
  3. Biomarkers for monitoring Pediatric HIV therapy and disease progression in resource limited setting.

Research Summary

Research focus is on

  1. The disposition of anti-HIV drugs, e.g. nucleoside analogs such as AZT, in HIV-infected individuals in relation to treatment response, drug toxicity, and evolution of drug resistance
  2. Understanding of the dynamics of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV transmission

Selected Publications

  • Yang G, Paintsil E, Dutschman GE, Grill SP, Wang CJ, Wang J, Tanaka H, Hamasaki T, Baba M, Cheng YC. Impact of Novel HIV-1 Reverse Transcriptase Mutations, P119S and T165A on 4'-ethynylthymidine Analog Resistance Profile. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 2009 Aug 24
  • Elijah Paintsil, Susan P. Grill, Ginger E. Dutschman, and Yung-Chi Cheng. 2009. Comparative Study of the Persistence of Anti-HIV Activity of Deoxynucleoside HIV Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors after Removal from Culture. AIDS Res Ther. 2009 Apr 22;6:5.
  • Elijah Paintsil, Sergei Verevochkin, Elena Dukhovlinova, Linda Niccolai, Russell Barbour, Edward White, Olga Toussova, Louis Alexander, Andrei Kozlov, and Robert Heimer . Hepatitis C Virus infection among drug injectors in St. Petersburg, Russia: social and molecular epidemiology of an endemic infection. Addiction. 2009 Aug 27
  • Elijah Paintsil, Musie Ghebremichael, Sostena Romano, and Warren A. Andiman. 2008. Absolute CD4+ T-Lymphocyte Count as a Surrogate Marker of Pediatric HIV Disease Progression. Pediatr Infect Dis J. 2008 Jul;27(7):629-35.
  • Elijah Paintsil, Ginger E. Dutschman, Rong Hu, Susan P. Grill, Wing Lam, Masanori Baba, Hiromichi Tanaka, and Yung-Chi Cheng. 2007. Intracellular Metabolism and Persistence of the Anti-Human Immunodeficiency Virus Activity of 2 ‘, 3 ‘-Didehydro-3 ‘-Deoxy-4 ‘- Ethynylthymidine, A Novel Thymidine Analog. Antimicrob. Agents Chemother. 51:3870-3879
  • Elijah Paintsil, Asa Margolis, Jennifer A Collins and Louis Alexander. 2006. The Contribution of HIV Fitness to the evolution pattern of Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitor Resistance. J. Med. Virol. 78:425-430

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