E. Irene Newhouse
129 Walua Place
Kihei, HI 96753
einew@hotmail.com

Education

Ph.D.   1986    University of Michigan
M.S.    1973    Michigan State University
B.S.     1973    Michigan State University

Research Summary

Dengue fever is one of the major insect-borne diseases. It’s passed by the bite of Aedes mosquitoes. These have been extending their range via international shipping and climate change. About half of the world’s population now lives where exposure to dengue virus is routine. There are four serotypes of dengue. If you get it once, you’re immune to that serotype for life, but if you’re infected with another serotype, you’re at risk for serious complications. It used to be rare to be reinfected with a different serotype, but international travel has caused significant mixing, so that now there are areas in which more than one serotype is endemic. There are no vaccines or drugs for dengue fever. Doctors can only treat the symptoms and wait for the patient to recover.

By the time dengue fever can be diagnosed, the infection is already well-established. Therefore, it would be very useful to have therapeutic agents that can be taken preventively during periods of high dengue risk, much as prophylactics against malaria. We are members of an international interdisciplinary collaboration exploring the potential of natural products as such prophylactic agents. I will be using high-throughput in silico screening to identify promising compounds.

Selected Publications

Rogers, J.W., Nejezchleb, A.J., Rolader, G.E., Federle, S.P., Littrell, D.M., Neely, W.C., & Newhouse, E. I. Barrier discharge optimization for nitric oxide destruction. J. Adv. Oxid. Technol. 1997, 2, 353.

E.I. Newhouse, W.C. Neely, E.J. Clothiaux, & J.W. Rogers, "Determination of Reaction  Mechanisms in Silent Discharge Plasma Chemical Processing:  The Decomposition of   Trichloroethylene",  in  D. W. Tedder and F. G. Pohland, "Emerging Technologies in Hazardous Waste  Processing VI,  Academy of Environmental Engineers, 1996, page 191.

E.I. Newhouse, J.W. Rogers, W.C. Neely, & E.J. Clothiaux, "Application of molecular modeling to plasma oxidation mechanisms", 33rd Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA 95-0247, 1995.