Dr. Felix Toka

About

Dr. Felix N. Toka received a DVM at the Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland in 1991 and his PhD in Veterinary Virology at the same University in 1994. He has teaching and research experience from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (USA), United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Services at Plum Island Animal Disease Centre in New York (USA) and Warsaw University of Life Sciences. Since 2012, he also holds a Doctor of Science (DSc.) degree in Veterinary Microbiology. From 2013 to 2015 he served as Director of Postgraduate Studies in the Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland. He is a diplomate the American College of Veterinary Microbiology, subspecialty Immunology. He joined Ross University School of Veterinary Medicine (RUSVM) in 2015 where he is a Professor in veterinary immunology and virology, and currently serves as Chair of the IACUC and Director of the Center for Integrative Mammalian Research.

Dr. Toka has expertise in herpesvirus, picornavirus and poxvirus. He has extensively published in those areas in reputable journals. He currently supervises 2 PhDs at the Department of Preclinical Sciences, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine at Warsaw Agricultural University in Poland, and a Master’s degree student at RUSVM, all working in different areas of immunology encompassing herpesviruses, poxviruses and Dermatophilus congolensis. Dr. Toka is interested in understanding the influence of virus infection on the function of the immune system. Currently, at RUSVM he is working on defining the role of Tripartite Motif (TRIM) genes in bovine macrophages following infection with viral or bacterial pathogens. 

Publications

  1. Szulc-Dabrowska L, Gregorczyk KP, Struzik J, Boratynska-Jasinska A, Szczepanowska J, Wyzewski Z, Toka FN, Gierynska M, Ostrowska A, Niemialtowski MG. (2016). Remodeling of the fibroblast cytoskeletal architecture during the replication cycle of Ectromelia virus: A morphological in vitro study in a murine cell line. Cytoskeleton (Hoboken) 2016 Aug;73(8):396-417. doi: 10.1002/cm.21308. 
  2. Lidia Szulc-Dabrowska, Justyna Struzik Agnieszka Ostrowska, Maciej Guzera, Felix N. Toka, Bossowska Magdalena, Malgorzata Gierynska Anna Winnicka, Zuzanna Nowak, and Marek G. Niemialtowski. (2017). Functional paralysis of GM-CSF-derived bone marrow cells productively infected with ectromelia virus. PLoS One, June 12(12), 6.  
  3. Mielcarska, M. B., Bossowska-Nowicka, M., & Toka, F. N. (2017). Functional failure of TLR3 and its signaling components contribute to herpes simplex encephalitis. Journal of Neuroimmunology. doi:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroim.2017.12.011 
  4. Patryk Dolega, Lidia Szulc-Dabrowska, Matylda Mielcarska, Magdalena Bossowska, Zuzanna Nowak, Felix N. Toka (2017). Innate immune gene transcript level associated with the infection of macrophages with ectromelia virus in two different mouse strains. Viral Immunol, Jun(30), 5.  
  5. Szulc-Dabrowska, L., Struzik, J., Cymerys, J., Winnicka, A., Nowak, Z., Toka, F. N., & Gierynska, M. (2017). The in Vitro Inhibitory Effect of Ectromelia Virus Infection on Innate and Adaptive Immune Properties of GM-CSF-Derived Bone Marrow Cells Is Mouse Strain-Independent. Front Microbiol, 8, 2539. doi:10.3389/fmicb.2017.02539 
  6. Toka, F. N. (2017). Bovine gamma/delta T cells are stimulated by bovine coronavirus antigens identified by a soluble T cells receptor Med. Weter, 73(7), 412-417. doi:https://doi.org/10.21521/mw.5742 
  7. Toka, F. N. (2017). Existence of a weak cytotoxic CD4+ T cell population in mice infected with ectromelia virus Med. Weter, 73(8), 488-491. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.21521/mw.5756 
  8. Gregorczyk, K. P., Wyzewski, Z., Szczepanowska, J., Toka, F. N., Mielcarska, M. B., Bossowska-Nowicka, M., Szulc-Dabrowska, L. (2018). Ectromelia Virus Affects Mitochondrial Network Morphology, Distribution, and Physiology in Murine Fibroblasts and Macrophage Cell Line. Viruses, 10(5). doi:10.3390/v10050266 
  9. Magdalena Bossowska-Nowicka, Toka, F, Matylda Mielcarska, Lidia Szulc-Dąbrowska. (2018). Cathepsins: innate immune proteases that regulate viral entry into host cells. Postepy Hig Med Dosw (Online)(72), 253-263. doi:doi.org/10.5604/01.3001.0011.7519 
  10. Szulc-Dabrowska, L., Palusinski, M., Struzik, J., Gregorczyk-Zboroch, K. P., Toka, F. N., Schollenberger, A., & Gierynska, M. (2018). Ectromelia virus induces tubulin cytoskeletal rearrangement in immune cells accompanied by a loss of the microtubule organizing center and increased alpha-tubulin acetylation. Arch Virol. doi:10.1007/s00705-018-4030-4 
  11. Bossowska-Nowicka, M., Mielcarska, M. B., Romaniewicz, M., Kaczmarek, M. M., Gregorczyk-Zboroch, K. P., Struzik, J., Toka, F. N., Szulc-Dabrowska, L. (2019). Ectromelia virus suppresses expression of cathepsins and cystatins in conventional dendritic cells to efficiently execute the replication process. BMC Microbiol, 19(1), 92. doi:10.1186/s12866-019-1471-1 
  12. Mielcarska, M. B.-N., M; Gregorczyk-Zboroch, K; Wyżewski, Z; Szulc-Dąbrowska, L; Gieryńska, M; Toka, F. (2019). Syk and Hrs Regulate TLR3-Mediated Antiviral Response in Murine Astrocytes. Oxidative Medicine and Cellular Longevity, 2019, 21 pages. doi:https://doi.org/10.1155/2019/6927380 
  13. Toka, F. N., Dunaway, K., Smaltz, F., Szulc-Dąbrowska, L., Drnevich, J., Mielcarska, M. B., Schweizer, M. (2019). Bacterial and viral pathogen-associated molecular patterns induce divergent early transcriptomic landscapes in a bovine macrophage cell line. BMC Genomics, 20(1), 15. doi:10.1186/s12864-018-5411-5 
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