IRB Membership Representation
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Dr. Alexander Cole leads a research team investigating natural antibiotics called “antimicrobial peptides” produced by humans’ blood cells, skin, and mucous membranes. Antimicrobial peptides represent a new class of antibiotics, which are active against a broad spectrum of bacteria, fungi, and viruses. Recently, Dr. Cole identified a remarkable peptide, called Retrocyclin, which effectively blocks HIV from infecting blood cells. While monkeys and other lower primates can produce Retrocyclin peptides, humans can not – a mutation that occurred when humans diverged from orangutans 7.5 million years ago prevents the production of Retrocyclins. Synthetically produced Retrocyclins are active against most subtypes of HIV-1, are not toxic to human cells, are extremely stable, and induce minimal viral resistance; all attributes that would favor their development as drugs. In an effort to restore what humans lost evolutionarily, Dr. Cole is currently spearheading the development of Retrocyclins as topical drugs to prevent heterosexual transmission of HIV in areas such as Africa, Southeast Asia, and the Caribbean where the disease is spreading most quickly.
Dr. Alexander Cole graduated with honors from The College of William and Mary with a B.S. in Biology, received his Ph.D. in Biomedical Sciences/Cell Biology from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, and pursued a postdoctoral fellowship at UCLA. He joined the faculty of the UCF Burnett College of Biomedical Sciences in 2003, and was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in 2006. Most recently, Dr. Cole received $4 million in grants from the National Institutes of Health. He has published over 40 peer-reviewed articles in top journals in the field, such as The Journal of Immunology, Blood, The Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA, and the Journal of Biological Chemistry.
