Shendra Passic is the director of the Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) Facility and the Human Cell Molecular Processing Center located within the Institute for Molecular Medicine and Infectious Disease. She is also manager of the Center for Molecular Virology and Neuroimmunology.

In order to examine the impact of genetic variation and drugs of abuse on HIV-1 replication and pathogenesis, the CNS AIDS Research and Eradication Study (CARES) was established at Drexel. HIV positive patients are recruited for longitudinal participation in various research studies to examine genetic variation over the course of the disease. As director of the Human Cell Molecular Processing Center, I oversee the collection and processing of all patient samples. Patient samples are biannually collected, processed and banked for future analyses. Subsequently, genomic DNA is further separated, sequenced and added to a longitudinal HIV-1 cohort sequence database. HIV-1 infected plasma samples are also analyzed using xMAP multiplexing technologies in order to generate patient and/or cohort cytokine profiles.

Selected Publications
(See all Shendra Passic's publications in PubMed. Also, see publications for Shendra Miller, published under maiden name.)

“Evidence of divergent amino acid usage in comparative analyses of R5- and X4-associated HIV-1 Vpr sequences”
Antell GC, Dampier W, Aiamkitsumrit B, Nonnemacher MR, Pirrone V, Zhong W, Kercher K, Passic S, Williams JW, Liu Y, James T, Jacobson JM, Szep Z, Wigdahl B, and Krebs FC
International Journal of Genomics, 2017:4081585, 2017

“Specific amino acids in HIV-1 Vpr are significantly associated with differences in patient neurocognitive status”
Dampier W, Antell GC, Aiamkitsumrit B, Nonnemacher MR, Jacobson JM, Pirrone V, Zhong W, Kercher K, Passic S, Williams JW, James A, Devlin KN, Giovanetti T, Libon DJ, Szep Z, Wigdahl B, and Krebs FC
Journal of Neurovirology, 23(1): 113-124, 2017

“Mitochondrial haplogroup influences motor function in long-term HIV-1-infected individuals”
Azar A, Devlin K, Mell JC, Giovannetti T, Pirrone V, Nonnemacher MR, Passic S, Kercher K, Williams JW, Jacobson JM, Wigdahl B, Dampier W, Libon DJ, and Sell C 
PlosONE, 11(10): e0163772, 2016

“Coinfection with hepatitis c virus among HIV-1-Infected individuals increases proinflammatory cytokines and HIV-1 disease severity”
Parikh N, Dampier W, Passic SR, Zhong W, Blakey B, Aiamkitsumrit B, Pirrone V, Nonnemacher MR, Szep Z, Jacobson JM, and Wigdahl B
MedCrave Online Journal of Immunology, 4(1): 00115, 2016

“Specific amino acids in HIV-1 Vpr are significantly associated with differences in patient neurocognitive status”
Dampier W, Antell GC, Aiamkitsumrit B, Nonnemacher MR, Jacobson JM, Pirrone V, Zhong W, Kercher K, Passic S, Williams JW, James T, Devlin KN, Giovannetti T, Libon DJ, Szep Z, Ehrlich GD, Wigdahl B, and Krebs FC
Journal of Neurovirology, 22(4):403-415, 2016

“Utilization of HIV-1 envelope V3 to identify X4- and R5-specific Tat and LTR sequence signatures”
Antell GC, Dampier W, Aiamkitsumrit B, Nonnemacher MR, Jacobson JM, Pirrone V, Zhong W, Kercher K, Passic S, Williams J, Schwartz G, Hershberg U, Krebs F, and Wigdahl B
Retrovirology, 13:32, 2016

“HIV-1 genetic variation resulting in the development of new quasispecies continues to be encountered in the peripheral blood of well-suppressed patients”
Dampier W, Nonnemacher MR, Mell J, Earl J, Ehrlich GD, Pirrone V, Aiamkitsumrit B, Zhong W, Kercher K, Passic S, Williams JW, Jacobson JM, and Wigdahl B
PlosONE, 11(5): e0155382, 2016

“HIV-1 LTR single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) are diagnostic of clinical disease parameters”
Nonnemacher MR, Pirrone V, Feng R, Moldover B, Passic S, Aiamkitsumrit B, Dampier W, Wojno A, Kilareski E, Blakey B, Ku TS, Shah S, Sullivan NT, Jacobson JM, Wigdahl B
PlosONE, 11(4): e0150835, 2016

"Impact of naturally occurring genetic variation in the HIV-1 LTR TAR region and SP binding sites on tat-mediated transcription"
Li L, Parikh N, Liu Y, Kercher K, Dampier W, Flaig K, Aiamkitsumrit B, Passic S, Frantz B, Blakely B, Pirrone V, Moldover B, Jacobson JM, Feng R, Nonnemacher MR, and B Wigdahl
Journal of Human Virology and Retrovirology, 2(4): 00052, 2015

"Effect of Mu-opioid agonist DAMGO on surface CXCR4 and HIV-1 replication in TF-1 human bone marrow progenitor cells"
Strazza A, Banerjee A, Alexaki A, Passic SR, Meucci O, Pirrone V, Wigdahl B and MR Nonnemacher
BMC Research Note, 7: 752, 2014

"Defining differential genetic signatures in CXCR4- and the CCR5-utilizing HIV-1 co-linear sequences"
Aiamkitsumrit B, Dampier W, Martin-Garcia J, Nonnemacher MR, Pirrone V, Ivanova T, Zhong W, Kilareski E, Aldigun H, Frantz B, Rimbey M, Wojno A, Passic S, William JS, Shah S, Blakey B, Parikh N, Jacobson J, Moldover B, and B Wigdahl.
PlosOne, 9(9): e107389, 2014

“Modeling bone marrow progenitor cell differentiation and susceptibility to HIV-1 infection”
Alexaki A, Quiterio S, Nonnemacher MR, Shah S, Lui Y, Banerjee A, Li L, Passic S, Pirrone V, Kilareski E, Petrovas C, and B Wigdahl
Medcrave online journal of immunology, 1(2): 00009, 2014

"Cocaine alters cytokine profiles within HIV-1-infected African American individuals in the DREXELMED HIV/AIDS Genetic Analysis Cohort"
Parikh N, Dampier W, Feng R, Passic SR, Zhong W, Frantz B, Blakey B, Aiamkitsumrit B, Pirrone V, Nonnemacher MR, Jacobson JM, and B Wigdahl.
JAIDS, 66(3): 256-264, 2014

“Inhibiting early-stage events in HIV-1 replication by small-molecule targeting of the HIV-1 capsid”
Kortagere S, Madani N, Mankowski MK, Schön A, Princiotto A, Anthony K, Zentner I, Oza A, Sierra L, Passic SR, Wang X, Jones DM, Stavale E, Krebs F, Martín-García J, Freire E, Ptak RG, Sodroski JG, Cocklin S, and A Smith 
Journal of Virology, 86:8472-8481, 2012
PMCID: PMC3421734

"Infection by CXCR4-tropic human immunodeficiency virus type 1 is inhibited by cationic cell-penetrating peptide derived from HIV-1 Tat"
Keogan S, Passic S, and F Krebs
Int J Pept: 349427, 2012

"Application and removal of polyanionic microbicide compounds enhance subsequent infection by HIV-1"
Pirrone V, Passic S, Wigdahl B, and FC Krebs
Virology Journal, 9: 33, 2012.

“Alkylated porphyrins have broad antiviral activity against hepadnaviruses, flaviviruses, filoviruses, and arenaviruses”
Guo H, Pan X, Mao R, Zhang X, Wang L, Lu X, Chang J, Guo J, Passic S, Krebs FC, Wigdahl B, Warren TK, Retterer CJ, Bavari S, Xu X, Cuconati A, and TM Block.
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 55: 478-486, 2011

"Development of co-selected single nucleotide polymorphisms in the viral promoter precedes the onset of human immunodeficiency virus type 1-associated neurocognitive impairment"
Li L, Aiamkitsumrit B, Pirrone V, Nonnemacher, MR, Wojno A, Passic S, Flaig K, Kilareski E, Blakey B, Ku J, Shah R, Martin-Garcia J, Moldover B, Servance L, Downie D, Lewis S, Jacobson JM, Kolson D, and B Wigdahl
J Neurovirol;17(1):92-109 (Epub Jan 12, 2011 ) Feb 2011.

"A styrene-alt-maleic acid copolymer is an effective inhibitor of both R5 and X4 human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection"
Pirrone V, Passic SR, Wigdahl B, Rando RF, Labib M, and Krebs FC
Journal of Biomedicine and Biotechnology, 2010:548749. doi:10.1155/2010/548749, 2010

"Structure-activity relationships of polybiguanides with activity against human immunodeficiency virus type 1"
Passic SR, Ferguson ML, Catalone BJ, Kish-Catalone T, Kholodovych V, Zhu W, Welsh W, Rando R, Howett MK, Wigdahl B, Labib M, and Krebs FC
Biomedicine & Pharmacotherapy, 16:723-732, 2010

"Persistent interactions between the biguanide-based compound NB325 and CXCR4 result in prolonged inhibition of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 infection"
Thakkar N, Pirrone V, Passic S, Keogan S, Zhu W, Kholodovych V, Welsh W, Rando R, Labib M, Wigdahl B, and Krebs FC
Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, 54: 1965-1972, 2010