Dr. Mikovits
obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from George
Washington University.
Dr. Mikovits spent more than 20 years at the National Cancer Institute in Frederick MD
where she investigated mechanisms by which retroviruses dysregulate the delicate balance of cytokines in the immune response.
This work led to
the discovery of the role aberrant DNA methylation plays in the
pathogenesis of HIV. Later in her career at the NCI, Dr. Mikovits
directed the Lab of Antiviral Drug Mechanisms (LADM) a section of
the NCI's Screening Technologies Branch in the Developmental
Therapeutics Program. The LADM's mission was to identify,
characterize and validate molecular targets and to develop
high-throughput cell-based, genomic and epigenomic screens for the
development of novel therapeutic agents for AIDS and AIDS-associated
malignancies (Kaposi's sarcoma).
Dr. Mikovits served as a senior
scientist at Biosource International, where she led the development
of proteomic assays for the Luminex platform that is used
extensively for cytokine activity assessment in therapy development.
She also served as Chief Scientific Officer and VP Drug Discovery at Epigenx Biosciences, where she lead the development and
commercialization of DNA methylation inhibitors for cancer therapy
and of cell and array-based methylation assays for drug discovery
and diagnostic development.
She is Research Director at the
Whittemore Peterson Nevada CFS centre for Neuro-Immune disorders
and has
co-authored over 40 peer reviewed publications that address
fundamental issues of viral pathogenesis, hematopoiesis and cytokine
biology.
Formally trained as a cell
biologist, molecular biologist and virologist, Dr. Mikovits has
studied the immune response to retroviruses and herpes viruses
including HIV, SIV, HTLVI, HERV, HHV6 and HHV8 with a special
emphasis on virus host cell interactions in cells of the
hematopoietic system including hematopoietic stem cells (HSC).
Dr
Mikovits was co-author of the
"Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood
Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" research paper in October 2009 in
Science magazine -
click here
(with grateful thanks to the
Whittemore-Peterson Institute for this information)