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Joseph Jilka

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Joseph Jilka, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor
Department of Molecular and Cellular Medicine

5701 Aiport Road, Module C
Temple, Texas 76502
Phone: 254-771-6825
Fax: 254-771-6839
Email: jilka@medicine.tamhsc.edu

Education and Post-Graduate Training

Joe Jilka is Assistant Director of Innovation Development and Assistant Professor of Molecular and Cellular Medicine at the Institute for Regenerative Medicine located in Temple, Texas.  He received his Bachelor and Master degrees in Biochemistry from Kansas State University in 1983 and 1985, respectively.  He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1990 from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign working with Dr. John Clark on maize viruses. His postdoctoral work was at Monsanto Agricultural Company in Chesterfield, MO. where his research focused on understanding the expression of recombinant proteins in transgenic plants. In 1992 he accepted a position at Pioneer Hi-Bred International in Des Moines, IA where he worked on European corn borer resistance in transgenic corn.  In 1997 he moved to College Station, TX as one of the founders of ProdiGene.  Prior to joining the College of Medicine, Dr. Jilka was most recently a Senior Licensing Manager at the Office of Technology Commercialization at the Texas A&M University System where he oversaw the commercialization of technologies from the Texas A&M Health Science Center.

Research Interests

The successful commercialization of new technologies arising from research requires knowledge of the many aspects of the process of moving a technology to a successful product.  Some of these areas include knowledge of regulatory hurdles, product development pathways, and the management of intellectual property.  The transfer of research results to successful products for the greater good of the public is of great interest to me.

Selected Publications

Lamphear, B.J., Barker, D.K., Brooks, C.A., Delaney, D.E., Lane, J.R., Beifuss, K., Love, R., Thompson, K., Mayor, J., Clough, R., Harkey, R., Poage, M., Drees, C., Horn, M.E., Streatfield, S.J., Nikolov, Z., Woodard, S.L., Hood, E.E., Jilka, J.M., and Howard, J.A. (2005)  Expression of the sweet protein brazzein in maize for production of a new commercial sweetener. Plant Biotechnology 3, 103-114.

Streatfield, S.J., Magallanes-Lundback, M.E., Beifuss, K.K., Brooks, C.A., Harkey, R.L., Love, R.T., Bray, J., Howard,  J.A., Jilka, J.M., and Hood,  E.E. (2004) Analysis of the maize polyubiquitin-1 promoter heat shock elements and generation of promoter variants with modified expression characteristics. Transgenic Res. Aug; 13(4):299-312.

Horn, M.E., Pappu, K.M., Bailey, M.R., Clough, R.C., Barker, M., Jilka, J.M., Howard, J.A., and Streatfield, S.J. (2004) Advantageous Features of Plant-based Systems for the Development of HIV Vaccines. J Drug Target. 11(8-10):539-545.

Lamphear, B.J., Jilka, J.M., Kesl, L., Welter, M., Howard, J.A., and Streatfield, S.J. (2004). A corn-based delivery system for animal vaccines: an oral transmissible gastroenteritis virus vaccine boosts lactogenic immunity in swine. Vaccine22(19):2420-2424.

Streatfield, S.J., Lane, J.R., Brooks, C.A., Barker, D.K., Poage, M.L., Mayor, J.M., Lamphear, B.J., Drees, C.F., Jilka, J.M., Hood, E.E., and Howard, J.A. (2003) Corn as a production system for human and animal vaccines. Vaccine Jan 30; 21(7-8):812-815.

Lamphear, B.J., Streatfield, S., Jilka, J. M., Brooks, C.A., Barker, D. K., Turner, D.D., Delaney, D.E., Garcia, M., Wiggins, B., Woodard, S.L., Hood, E.E, Tizard, I.R., Lawhorn, B., and Howard, J. A. (2002) Delivery of Subunit Vaccines in Maize Seed. J Control Release. Dec 13; 85(1-3):169-180.

Streatfield, S.J., Jilka, J.M., Hood, E.E., Turner, D.D., Bailey, M.R., Mayor, J.M., Woodard, S.L., Beifuss, K.K., Horn, M.E., Delaney, D.E., Tizard, I.R., and Howard, J.A. (2001) Plant-based vaccines: unique advantages. Vaccine. Mar 21; 19(17-19):2742-2748.

 

Selected Patents

Novel plant promoter sequences and methods of use for same. Jilka, Joseph M.; Hood, Elizabeth E.; Howard, John A. United States Patent 6,977,325 issued December 20, 2005.

Commercial Production of Laccase in Plants: E. Hood, J. Howard, J. Jilka. United States Patent 6,800,792 issued October 5, 2004.

Virus resistant plants, J.M. Jilka, N. Ereken, United States Patent 5,986,175 issued November 16, 1999.

Virus resistant plants transformed with a PVY protease gene, J.M. Jilka, N.E. Tumer, United States Patent 5,589,612 issued December 31, 1996.