Vibrio cholerae & Streptococcus pneumoniae
Camilli Laboratory


Department of Microbiology
Tufts University
136 Harrison Avenue
Boston, MA 02111

Lab (617) 636-6933
   

Tim van Opijnen, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral fellow
Ph.D. University of Amsterdam

Thesis Topic
PhD at the departments of Human Retrovirology and Mathematical Population Biology at the University of Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Thesis title: Virus and Environment; How HIV-1 replication and evolution are driven by the host-cell environment.

Current Research
By applying systems- and network-biology to the gram-positive bacterium Streptococcus pneumoniae I have found an exciting mix of many of my interests and skills that I use to develop widely applicable infectious disease models that will enable researchers, as well as clinicians, to make predictions on the phenotypic outcome of an infection in response to a perturbation or intervention. Moreover, I belief this will allow for the development of new strategies to tackle infectious diseases.

Publications

  1. Van Opijnen, T., Bodi, K., Camilli, A. "Tn-seq: high-throughput parallel sequencing for fitness and genetic interaction studies in microorganisms." Nat Methods. 2009 Oct;6(10):767-72. Epub 2009 Sep 20. WEBLINK

  2. Van Opijnen T, deRonde A, Boerlijst MC, Berkhout B. Adaptation of HIV-1 depends on the host-cell environment. PLoS One. 2007 Mar 7;2(3):e271. WEBLINK

  3. Van Opijnen T, Boerlijst MC, Berkhout B. 2006. Effects of random mutations in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 transcriptional promoter on viral fitness in different host cell environments Journal of Virology 80 (13): 6678-6685 WEBLINK

  4. Van Opijnen T, Berkhout B 2005. The host environment drives HIV-1 fitness Reviews in medical virology 15 (4): 219-233 WEBLINK

  5. Van Opijnen T., Baudry E., Bartos J., Baldo L. and Werren J.H. 2005. Genetic variability in the three genomes of Nasionia: Nuclear, mitochondrial and Wolbachia. Insect Molecular Biology 14:653-663.

  6. Velthuis, B., Yang, W., Van Opijnen, T. and Werren, J.H. Genetics of female mate discrimination to heterospecific males in Nasonia (Hym., Pteromalidae). 2005 Animal Behaviour 69: 1107-1120. WEBLINK

  7. Lemieux AM, Pare ME, Audet B, Legault E, Lefort S, Boucher N, Landry S, van Opijnen T, Berkhout B, Naghavi MH, Tremblay MJ, Barbeau B. 2004. T-cell activation leads to poor activation of the HIV-1 clade E long terminal repeat and weak association of nuclear factor-kappaB and NFAT with its enhancer region. J Biol Chem. 17:52949-52960. WEBLINK

  8. Van Opijnen, T., Kamoschinski J., Jeeninga, R., and Berkhout, B. 2004. The Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 promoter contains a CATA box instead of a TATA box for optimal transcription and replication. J. Virology 78 (13) 6883-6890. WEBLINK

  9. van Opijnen T, Jeeninga RE, Boerlijst MC, Pollakis GP, Zetterberg V, Salminen M, Berkhout B 2004. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 subtypes have a distinct long terminal repeat that determines the replication rate in a host-cell-specific manner Journal of virology 78 (7): 3675-3683 WEBLINK

  10. Vala, F., Van Opijnen, T., Breeuwer, J.A.J. and Sabelis M.W. 2003. Genetic conflicts over Sex Ratio: Mite-Endosymbiont Interactions. The American Naturalist 161: 254-266. WEBLINK

  11. Weeks, A.R., Van Opijnen, T. and Breeuwer, J.A.J. 2000. Molecular applications in spider mites. Exp. Appl. Acarol 24:775-793. WEBLINK

  12. Van Opijnen, T. and Breeuwer, J.A.J. 1999. High temperatures eliminate Wolbachia, a cytoplasmic incompatibility inducing endosymbiont, from the two spotted spider mite. Exp. Appl. Acarol. 23: (11) 871-881. WEBLINK