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Crasta, Oswald R., Ph.D. Print E-mail
Faculty - Personal Pages

Project Director, Collaborative Research Team, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
Director of Bioinformatics, Cyberinfrastructure Group, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
Co-Director, Cyberinfrastructure Group, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute
Oswald Crasta

Phone: (540) 231-6178; E-mail: ocrasta@vbi.vt.edu
 Website: Personal | Research group page | Education&Outreach
 Other networks: Linkedin | Biomed Experts

Administrative Specialist: Emily Alberts
(540) 231-0714; Email: ealberts@vbi.vt.edu

Research interests

  • Cyberinfrastructure for PathoSystems Biology
  • Genomics of Host-Pathogen Interactions
  • Computational Biology
  • Target and Biomarker Discovery Using Genomic Approaches
  • Plant Molecular Genetics; Biotic & Abiotic Stress

Education

  • Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN, Plant Molecular Biology, Post-Doctoral Fellow, 1995-1997
  • Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, Crop Science, PhD, 1994
  • Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX, Molecular Genetics, PhD, 1995
  • Univ. of Agril. Sciences, India, Agronomy, M.Sc.    1986    
  • Univ. of Agril. Sciences, India, Agriculture, B.Sc.    1984   

Professional Preparation
  • Project Director, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. 2005-present.
  • Director of Bioinformatics, CI group, Virginia Bioinformatics Institute, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. 2004-2005.
  • Consultant, CuraGen Corporation, New Haven, CT. 2004-2005.
  • Project Leader, CuraGen Corporation, New Haven, CT. 2001-2004.
  • Senior Res. Scientist, CuraGen Corporation, New Haven, CT. 1999-2001.
  • Res. Scientist, CuraGen Corporation, New Haven, CT. 1997-1999.
  • Instructor, Univ. of Agricultural Sciences, Dharwad, India. 1987-1990  

Biography 

Oswald R. Crasta is a Project Director at the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute at Virginia Tech. He has been managing scientific research and outreach projects in the Cyberinfrastructure (CI) Group. His current research is in the area of pathosystems biology with a focus on generation, analysis and integration of high-throughput genomics and post-genomics data with a goal of discovering targets and biomarkers for Pharmaceutical and Agricultural applications. The outreach projects that he leads include collaborative research projects with scientists from universities, industry and federal research organizations to facilitate the research on, and discovery of drugs/vaccine/diagnostics targets. He also leads a NSF-funded outreach initiative to train the 21st Century scientific workforce. Dr. Crasta has seven years of industry experience in managing large-scale genomics research projects and personnel and a total of twenty years of research and/or teaching experience with specialization in the areas of genomics, molecular genetics, pathosystems biology, general biology. Dr. Crasta is a molecular geneticist with two Ph.D. degrees from Cornell University and Texas Tech Universities and post-doc. training from Purdue University. He is an inventor on 15 issued patents and co-author of over 30 scientific publications. Dr. Crasta is Principal Investigator on several extramurally funded grants from NIH, NSF, and other sources. His career goal is to use an integrated and transdisciplinary research approach for the discovery and validation of targets for biotechnological applications. 

Publications

  1. Wattam AR, KP Williams, EE Snyder, NF Almeida Jr., M Shukla, AW Dickerman, OR Crasta, R Kenyon, J Lu, JM Shallom, H Yoo, TA  Ficht, RM Tsolis, C Munk, R Tapia, CS Han , JC Detter, D Bruce, TS  Brettin, BW Sobral, SM Boyle, JC Setubal (2009) Analysis of ten Brucella genomes reveals evidence for frequent horizontal gene transfer despite intracellular lifestyle. J. Bacteriol. (in press)
  2. Djavani M, OR Crasta, Y Zhang, JC Zapata, B Sobral, MG Lechner, J Bryant, H Davis, and MS Salvato (2009) Gene expression in primate liver during viral hemorrhagic fever. Virol. J. BioMed Central 6(1):20. PMID: 19216742.
  3. Li XL, Ezelle HJ, Kang TJ, Zhang L, Shirey KA, Harro J, Hasday JD, Mohapatra SK, Crasta OR, Vogel SN, Cross AS, Hassel BA. (2008) An essential role for the antiviral endoribonuclease, RNase-L, in antibacterial immunity. PNAS 105 (52): 20816–20821. PMID: 19075243.
  4. Dai, R, RA Phillips, Y Zhang, D Khan, O Crasta, and SA Ahmed. (2008) Suppression of LPS-induced IFN&[gamma] and nitric oxide in splenic lymphocytes by select estrogen-regulated miRNA: A novel mechanism of immune modulation. Blood 112 (12): 4591-4597. PMID: 18791161
  5. Gilchrist CA, DJ Baba, Y Zhang, O Crasta, C Evans,  Elizabeth Caler, BWS Sobral, CB Bousquet1, M Leo, A Hochreiter, SK Connell, BJ Mann, WA Petri Jr. (2008) Targets of the E. Histolytica Transcription Factor Ure3-Bp. PLoS Negl Trop Dis 2(8): e282. PMID: 18846235
  6. Abhyankar MM, AE Hochreiter, J Hershey, C Evans, Y Zhang, O Crasta, BWS Sobral, BJ Mann, WA Petri, Jr. and CA Gilchrist.  (2008) Characterization of an Entamoeba histolytica High-Mobility-Group Box Protein Induced during Intestinal Infection. Eukaryot Cell. 2008 7(9):1565-72. PMID: 18658254
  7.  Peccoud J, MF Blauvelt, Y Cai, KL Cooper, O Crasta, EC DeLalla, C Evans, O Folkerts, BM Lyons, SP Mane, R Shelton, MA Sweede, SA Waldon. (2008) Targeted development of registries of biological parts. PLoS ONE. 3(7):e2671. PMID: 18628824
  8.  Li H, E Gilbert, Y Zhang, O Crasta, D Emmerson, K Webb, and E Wong. (2008) Expression profiling of the solute carrier gene family in the chicken intestine from the late embryonic to early post hatch stages. Physiological Genomics. Anim Genet. 39(4):407-24. PMID: 18544075
  9. Crasta OR*, Folkerts O, Fei Z, Mane SP, Evans C, Martino-Catt S, et al. (2008) Genome Sequence of Brucella abortus Vaccine Strain S19 Compared to Virulent Strains Yields Candidate Virulence Genes. PLoS ONE 3(5): e2193. PMID: 18478107 *corresponding author
  10. Gillespie J, K Williams, M Shukla, et al., O Crasta, J Setubal, A Azad, B Sobral. (2008) Rickettsia Phylogenomics: Unwinding the Intricacies of Obligate Intracellular Life. PLoS ONE 3(4): e2018 doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0002018. PMCID: PMC-in progress
  11. Zhang C,  O Crasta , S Cammer , R Will , R Kenyon , D Sullivan , Q Yu , W Sun , R Jha , D Liu , T Xue , Y Zhang , M Moore , P McGarvey , H Huang , Y Chen , J Zhang , R Mazumder , C Wu , B Sobral. (2008) An emerging cyberinfrastructure for biodefense pathogen and pathogen host data. Nucleic Acids Res.  36:D884–D891. PMID: 17984082
  12. Koterski, J, N Twenhafel, A Porter, DS Reed, S Martino-Catt, B Sobral, O Crasta, T Downey, and L DaSilva (2007) Gene Expression Profiling of Non-Human Primates Exposed to Aerosolized Venezuelan Equine Encephalitis Virus (VEEV). FEMS Immunol. Med. Microbiol. 51(3):462-72. PMID: 17894805
  13. Djavani M, Crasta O, Zapata J, Fei Z, Folkerts O, Sobral B, Bryant J, Pauza C, Lukashevich I, Salvato M. (2007) Early blood profiles of virus infection in a monkey model for Lassa Fever. J Virol. 81(15):7960-73. PMID: 17522210
  14. Yu, G.X., E.E. Snyder, S.M. Boyle, O.R. Crasta, M. Czar, S. P. Mane, A. Purkayastha,  B. Sobral and J. C. Setubal (2007) A Versatile Computational Pipeline for Bacterial Genome Annotation Improvement and Comparative Analysis, with Brucella as a Use Case. Nucleic Acids Res. 35(12):3953-62. PMID: 17553834
  15. Snyder. E.E. , et al., Crasta, O.R., Czar, M.J., Dickerman, A., Eckart, J.D., , Kenyon, R., Will, R., Setubal, J.C. and Sobral, B.W. (2007) PATRIC: The VBI PathoSystems Resource Integration Center. Nucleic Acids Res. 35: D401-D406. PMID: 17142235
  16. Baker SC, Jukneliene D, Purkayastha A, Snyder EE, Crasta OR, Czar MJ, Setubal JC, Sobral BW. (2006) Developing bioinformatic resources for coronaviruses. Adv Exp Med Biol. 581:395-8. PMID: 17037566
  17. Guo, M., MA Rupe, X Yang, O Crasta, C Zinselmeier, OS Smith, B Bowen (2006) Genome-wide transcript analysis of maize hybrids: allelic additive gene expression and yield heterosis. Theor. Appl. Genet. 113(5):831-45. PMID: 16868764
  18. Gilchrist, CA, E Houpt, N Trapaidze, Z Fei, O Crasta, A Asgharpour, C Evans, S Martino-Catt, DJ. Baba, S Stroup, S Hamano, G Ehrenkaufer, M Okada, U Singh, T Nozaki, BJ. Mann, and WA. Petri, Jr. (2006) Impact of intestinal colonization and invasion on the E. histolytica transcriptome. Molecular and Biochemical Parasitology 147:163-176. PMID: 16569449
  19. Hance ME, MJ Czar, A Azad, A Purkayastha, EE. Snyder, OR. Crasta, JC. Setubal, and BW. Sobral. (2005) The Pathogen Resource Integration Center: Implications for Rickettsial Research. Ann. N.Y. Acad. Sci. 1063: 459–465. PMID: 16481560
  20. Hu X, D. Bidney, N Yalpani, J Duvick, O Crasta, O Folkerts and L. Guihua (2003) Overexpression of a Hydrogen Peroxide-Generating Oxalate Oxidase Gene Evokes Defense Responses in Sunflower. Plant Physiol. 133:170-181. PMID: 12970484
  21. Mysore K.*, Crasta O*., Tuori R., Folkerts O., Swirsky P., and Martin GB (2002) Comprehensive transcript 3.  profiling of Pto- and Prf-mediated host defense responses to infection by Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato. The Plant Journal 32:299-315. PMID: 12410809 *equal contribution
  22. Simmons C., Grant S., Altier D., Dowd P., Crasta, O., Folkerts, O. and Yalpani N. (2001) Maize rhm1 4.  resistance to Bipolaris maydis is associated with few differences in pathogenesis-related proteins and global mRNA profiles. Mol. Plant-Microbe Interact. 14(8):947-954. PMID: 11497466
  23. Bruce, W., Desbons P., Crasta, O. and Folkerts, O. (2001) Gene expression profiling of two related maize 5.  inbred lines with contrasting root-lodging traits. J. Exp. Bot. 52:459-468. 
  24. Bruce, W., Folkerts, O., Garnaat, C., Crasta, O., Roth, B., and Bowen, B. (2000) Expression profiling of the maize flavonoid pathway genes controlled by estradiol-inducible transcription factors CRC and P. Plant Cell 12, 65-79. PMID: 11326052
  25. Crasta OR, Francki MG, Bucholtz DB, Sharma HC, Zhang J, Wang RC, Ohm HW, Anderson JM. 2000.  Identification and characterization of wheat-wheatgrass translocation lines and localization of barley yellow dwarf virus resistance. Genome. 43(4):698-706. PMID: 10984183
  26. Xu W, Subudhi PK, Crasta OR, Rosenow DT, Mullet JE, Nguyen HT. 2000. Molecular mapping of QTLs conferring stay-green in grain sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L. Moench). Genome. 43(3):461-9.  PMID: 10902709
  27. Crasta OR, Xu WW, Rosenow DT, Mullet J, Nguyen HT. 1999. Mapping of post-flowering drought resistance traits in grain sorghum: association between QTLs influencing premature senescence and maturity. Mol Gen Genet. 262(3):579-88. PMID: 10589847
  28. Sharma H, M Francki, O Crasta, G Gyulai, D Bucholtz, H Ohm, J Anderson, K Perry, O Benlhabib and F. Patterson. 1999. Cytological and molecular characterization of wheat lines with Thinopyrum intermedium chromosome additions, substitutions and translocations resistant to barley yellow dwarf virus. Cytologia: Intl. J. Cytogenet. & Cell Biol. 64: 93-100
  29. Francki, MG, O Crasta, JM Anderson, H Sharma and HW Ohm. 1997. Structural organization of an alien Thinopyron intermedium group 7 chromosome in US soft red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.). Genome. 40:716-722. PMID: 18464860
  30. Crasta OR, Cox WJ, Cherney JH. 1997. Factors affecting maize forage quality development in the northeastern USA. Agron. J. 59:251-256.
  31. Crasta OR, Cox WJ. 1996. Temperature and soil water effects on development of forage quality of maize.  Crop Sci. 36:341-348.
  32. Crasta, OR and LA Dixit. (1990) Economics of Cropping Systems in Different Row Orientations. Fmg. Systems. 6(1&2):42-44.
  33. Hiremath, SM, OR Crasta, BS Hulgur, MV Manjunath and GV Dasar. (1990) Intercropping Bengalgram with Safflower under Rainfed Conditions. Fmg. Systems 6(3&4):96-98.
  34. Hiremath, SM, MM Hosmani, OR Crasta, G Hosur and BN Subhakar. (1990) Intercropping of Linseed with Wheat. Karnataka J. Agric. Sci. 3(1&2):102-1.

Book-Chapters and Proceedings

  1. Sriranganathan N, MN Seleem, SC Olsen, LE Samartino, AM Whatmore, B Bricker, DO’Callaghan, SM Halling, OR Crasta, RA Wattam, A Purkayastha, BW Sobral, EE Snyder, K Williams, G-X Yu, TA Ficht, C M Roop II, P deFigueiredo, and S M. Boyle1, Oliver He, and Rene M. Tsolis. (2008) Brucella in "Genome Mapping in Animals and Microbes" - by Springer Volume 8 - Animal Associated Microbes, Editors - C. Cole and V. Nene (in press).
  2. Craddock L, D Rainey, S Faulkner, F Hart, M Eborall, L Foster, S Cammer, B Tretola, B Sobral, O Crasta*, B Mutter (2007) AC 2007-1179:Developing a multidisciplinary online cyberinfrastructure course through project-centric bioinformatics. 114th Annual ASEE Conference & Exposition June 24-27, 2007 - Honolulu, Hawaii. * Corresponding author.
  3. Rainey D, B Mutter, L Craddock, S Faulkner, F Hart, M Eborall, L Foster, S Cammer, B Tretola, B Sobral, and O Crasta* (2007) AC 2007-1200: A project-centric approach for cyberinfrastructure in bioinformatics. 114th Annual ASEE Conference & Exposition June 24-27, 2007 - Honolulu, Hawaii. * Corresponding author.
  4. Purkayastha, A, O Crasta, J Eckart, M Czar, XJ Meng, J Setubal, and B Sobral. “Bioinformatics Resources For The Study Of Viruses At The Virginia Bioinformatics Institute.” Chp. 10 in Structure-Based Study of Viral Replication, ed. Holland Cheng. World Scientific Publishing Company, London, UK.
  5. Crasta O.R. and Folkerts O. 2003. Open Architecture Expression Profiling of Plant Transcriptomes and Gene Discovery Using GeneCalling® Technology. “Plant Functional Genomics: Methods & Protocols” Ed. E Grotewold. Humana Press, Totawa, NJ. pp. 381-394.
  6. Crasta O, Xu W, Rosenow DT, Mullet J, Nguyen HT. 1995. Marker assisted identification of QTLs associated with drought resistance traits in grain sorghum. P.136-138. In Proc. 19th Biennial Grain Sorghum Res. and Utilization Conference, March 5-7,1995, Lubbock, TX.
  7. Nguyen HT, Xu W, Crasta O, Rosenow DT and Mullet J. 1995. p.1-5. In Proc. International Congress on Integrated Studies on Drought Tolerance in Higher Plants. Aug. 31-Sep. 2, 1995, Montpellier, France

Invited Presentations

  1. Crasta OR. 2007. “Cyberinfrastructure for Biological Researchers, Educators and Developers”. Invited presentation to the faculty and students of Richard Stockton College of New Jersey, Pomona NJ 08240. Nov. 21, 2007.
  2. Crasta OR. 2006. “Bioinformatics Resources for PathoSystems Biology”. Bioinformatics Tools for the Beginner/Intermediate Researcher. Workshop at the joint meeting of the APS, CPS and MSA. Quebec City, Canada. July 29-August 2, 2006.
  3. Crasta OR, 2006.  "Bioinformatics Resources & Networks for Development of Countermeasures". Presentation to “Biomedical Computing Interest Group (BCIG)” April 20, 2006.
  4. Crasta OR, 2005.  “Cyberinfrastructure for Biodefense”. Presentation at Biomedical Sciences Seminars of University of Virginia Health System, Charlotteville, VA.. Sep. 27, 2005.
  5. Crasta O. Profiling of Plant Transcriptomes for Gene Discovery and Function 3rd Annual Agricultural Genomics (IIR) Jan 29-31, 2001. San Francisco, CA.
  6. Crasta O. Functional Genomics: Technology Overview and Recent Results. Transcript Profiling Workshop. Plant Animal Genome –X, Jan 13-17, 2001. San Diego, CA
  7. Crasta O. Impact of molecular biology on crop production and crop protection. CHI Conference. Minneapolis Aug. 21-24, 2000
  8. Crasta O. Expression Profiling of In Vitro Cultures and Discovery of Genes Using GeneCalling Technology. World Congress on Invitro Biology (SIVB) Jun 10-15, 2000. San Diego, CA.
  9. Crasta O. 2000. Open-Architecture Transcriptome Profiling and  Gene Discovery for Crop Improvement. Transcript Profiling Workshop.  Plant Animal Genome –IX, Jan 13-17, 2000. San Diego, CA.
  10. Crasta O. Discovery of Genes through Expression Profiling of Plant Transcriptomes. Sept. 28, 2000. MCDB Department, Yale University, New Haven, CT.

Intellectual Property

 

Patents

Area

Application

One

Toxicogenomics

Rat Hepatotoxicity Biomarkers and methods of use thereof

7,060,444

 

Nine

Fumonisin Detoxification

Genes, Pathways, and methods for fumonisin detoxification

7,241,934

6,987,212

6,943,279

6,835,569

6,822,140

6,534,291

6,482,621

6,388,171

6,211,435

Five

Disease Targets

Biomarkers from Expression Profiling

6,709,865

6,677,503

6,630,615

6,515,202

6,433,249

 

 

Grants

  1. NSF CI-TEAM Implementation for Biological Researchers, Educators, and Developers (CIBRED) $1,000K 5/2008-4/2010 PI
  2. NSF Cyberinfrastructure Demonstration through Project-Centric Bioinformatics $287K 1/06-12/08 PI
  3. USAMRIID Design, development and use of a rabbit microarray chips for gene expression analysis. $80K 10/07-09/08 PI
  4. USAMRIID RNA Samples For The EEE, Plague Blood RNA, And Rabbitpox $50K 5/05-09/07 PI
  5. USAMRIID Human Tularemia project and project #04-0-1L-006 animal studies (rabbit pox, monkey brain and spleen) $133K 05/05-09/06 PI
  6. USAMRIID Human Tularemia Part 2 $86K 06/05-09/06 PI
  7. USAMRIID Plague & Tularemia PCR Real-Time Assays $24K 09/05-09/07 PI
  8. USAMRIID Plague Blood Gene Expression $18K 10/05-09/07 PI
  9. NIH Generation and analysis of Gene Expression data on Mouse RNA Samples Using the Affymetrix GeneChip Platform $14K 9/06-9/07 CoPI (PI Dr. Stefanie Vogel, U. of Maryland, MARCE project)
  10. NIH Generation and analysis of Gene Expression data on Anthrax $16K 12/06-9/07 CoPI (PI Dr. R. Rest Drexel University)
  11. NIH Transcriptional Profiling Thioglycollate-elicited (i.e.primary) mouse macrophages from RNase-L-/- and C57Bl/6 WT $20K 01/2007-02/2007 CoPI (PI Dr. Alan Cross, U. of Maryland, MARCE project
  12. NIH Transcriptional Profiling of Early Human PBMC Responses to Lassa Infection $31K 01/2007-12/2007 CoPI (PI Dr. Salvato, U. of Maryland, MARCE project
  13. VBI Collaborative Research $204K 7/2007- PI, Renewable annually
  14. NIH Sequencing of two Francisella genomes $77K 9/2007-2/2008 PI
  15. NIH Proteomics of Arp overexpression in anthrax $43K 9/2007-2/2008 PI
  16. NIAID Bioinformatics Resource centers $12,000K 8/2004-6/2009 Key personnel/Project Co-Director (PI. B Sobral)
  17. NIAID Proteomics Resource Admin. Center $2,890K 8/2004-6/2009 Key personnel/Project Co-Director (PI. B Sobral)
  18. NIAID Bioinformatics and Genomics Research Core of Mid Atlantic RCE for Biodefence $761K 8/2004-6/2009 Key personnel/Project Co-Director (PI. B Sobral)
  19. DoD Pathogen Portal $10,774K 8/2004-12/2007 Key personnel/Project Co-Director (PI. B Sobral)



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