Dr. Preston H. Dorsett attended Wake Forest College, Winston-Salem and received his Bachelors Degree in Biology in 1964, his Masters Degree, Virology in 1967 and his Doctorate Degree, Virology, 1970. Dr. Dorsett is also a Tennessee Supreme Court Rule 31 Listed Mediator and concentrates his mediation and arbitration efforts in the area of biotechnology.
Dr. Preston H. Dorsett was the majority owner and co-founder of the Biotech company, Viral Antigens Inc. Dr. Dorsett was the driving force which over a 20 year period molded an impeccable reputation for quality service and products worldwide. As a result of Dr. Dorsett’s efforts Viral Antigen’s was purchased by the public company Meridian BioSciences, Inc. Dr. Dorsett is now the Vice-President of Science and Technology for Meridian BioSciences in the fields of production of early phase vaccines and diagnostics.
Dr. Dorsett has significant academic and research experience, including the following: Research Technician, Department of Microbiology, Bowman Gray School of Medicine, Winston-Salem, NC 1964 – 1965;Postdoctoral Fellow with Dr. Harold S. Ginsberg, Department of Microbiology, School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 1969 – 1971; Assistant Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, Memphis, TN 1972 – 1975; Associate Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee Center for the Health Sciences, Memphis, TN 1975 – 1993; Visiting Scientist, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 1977 – 1978; Adjunct Professor, Department of Microbiology, University of Tennessee Center For the Health Sciences, Memphis, TN 1994 – Present; President and Chief Executive Officer, Viral Antigens, Inc., Memphis, TN 1982 – 2006; VP of Science and Technology, Meridian Life Sciences, Memphis, TN 2006 – Present.
Dr. Dorsett holds the following Patents: “Agglutination Assay and Product for Rubella Antibody” US Patent 4,590,156 (1989) ; “Particles Sensitized with Detergent-Treated Antigen for Agglutination Immunoassay US Patent 4.695,537 (1987); “Passive Agglutination Assay for Pseudorabies Antibody” US Patent 4,804,624 (1989); “Recovery of Cytomegalovirus Antigen and Use Thereof in an Assay” US Patent 4,808,518 (1989); “Specificity in the Detection of Anti-Rubella IgM Antibodies” US Patents6,670,117 (2003) and 6,872,396 (2005).
Dr. Dorsett has written or contributed to the following publications: Dorsett, P.H. and Acton, J.D. 1970 Synthesis of Virus Macromolecules in L-929 Cells Infected With Mayaro Virus. J. Gen. Virol. 9: 133-140; Dorsett, P.H. and Ginsberg, H.S. 1975 Characterization of Type 5 Adenovirus Fiber Protein. J. Virol. 15: 208-216;Dorsett, P.H., Kerstine, E.R. and Powers, L.F. 1975 Antiviral Activity of Gossypol and Apogossypol. J. Pharm. Sci. 64: 1073-1075; Magun, B.E. and Dorsett, P.H. 1977 Synthetic Changes in DNA-Binding Proteins During the Onset of Transformation of Cells Transformed by a Thermosensitive Mutant of Rous Sarcoma Virus. J. Virol. 22: 469-479; Gravell, M., Dorsett, P.H., Gutenson, O. and Ley, A.C. 1977. Detection of Antibody to Rubella Virus by Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay. J. Infect. Dis. 136: S300 – S303; Leinikki, P.O., Shekarchi, I., Dorsett, P.H. and Sever, J.L. 1978. Enzyme-Linked Immunosorbent Assay Determination of Specific Rubella Antibody Levels inMicrograms of Immunoglobulin G per Milliter of Serum in Clinical Samples.J. Clin Microbiol. 8: 419 – 423; Leinikke, P.O., Shekarchi, I., Dorsett, P.H. and Sever, J.L. 1978; Determination of Virus-Specific IgM Antibodies by Using ELISA; Elimination of False-Positive Results with Protein A Sepharose Adsorption and Subsequent IgM Antibody Assay. J. Lab. Clin. Med. 92: 849 857; Magun, B. E., Scott, P.E. and Dorsett, P.H. 1979. Early Changes in the Synthesis of Proteins With Affinity for Single-Stranded DNA During the Onset of Transformation in NRK Cells. Biochem. Biophys. Acta. 563: 320 – 335; Dorsett, P.H., Miller, D.C., Green, K.Y. and Byrd, F.I. 1985. Structure and Function of the Rubella Virus Proteins. Rev. Infect. Dis. 7: S150 – S156;Schiff, G.M., Young, B.C., Stefanovic, G.M., Stamler, E.F., Knowlton, D.R., Grundy, B.J. and Dorsett, P.H. 1985; Challenge with Rubella Virus after Loss of Detectable Vaccine-Induced Antibody. Rev. Infect. Dis. 7: S157 – S163; Green, K.Y. and Dorsett, P.H. 1986. Rubella Virus Antigens: Localization of Epitopes Involved in Hemagglutination and Neutralization by Using Monoclonal Antibodies.J. Virol. 57: 893 – 898; Singh, A., Kang, E.S., Greenhaw, J. and Dorsett, P.H. 1989. Effects of in-vitro Prepared Immune Complexes on Rat Adipose Tissue Lipoprotein Lipase. J. Immunol. 143: 203 – 207; Craig, W.Y., Poulin, S.E., Dorsett, P.H., Ledue, T.B. and Ritchie, R.F. 1993. Application Of Checkerboard Immunobloting (CBIB) to the Detection of Anti-Viral IgG in Human Serum. J. Clin. Lab. Anal. 7: 203 – 208.
Dr. Dorsett has written or contributed to the following abstracts: Dorsett, P.H. and Ratcliffe, T.S. Suppression of Rubella Virus Synthesis by Cell Culture Medium pH. Am. Soc. Biol. Chem. 1976;Daniel, L.W. and Dorsett, P.H. Adsorption of Rubella Virus to Vero Cells: Effect of pH And Cell Cycle. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1977; Ratcliffe, T.S. and Dorsett, P.H. Absence of Polyadenylate in the Genome of Rubella Virus. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1977; Culberson, C. and Dorsett, P.H. Characterization of Cell Cultures Persistently Infected With Virus. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1978;Daniel, L. and Dorsett, P.H. Glycosylation of Rubella Virus Glycoproteins is Inhibited By Acidic Cell Culture Medium. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1978; Ratcliffe, T.S. and Dorsett, P.H. Less Dense Virions Associated with Persistent Infection. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1980; Dorsett, P.H., Braley, J.F., Miller, D.C and Green, K.Y. Detection and Quantitation Of Antibody Against Specific Rubella Virus Antigens. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1982; Miller, D.C. and Dorsett, P.H. Interaction of the Structural Polypeptides in the Rubella Virion. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1984; Green, K.Y. and Dorsett, P.H. Monoclonal Antibodies that React with Both of the Rubella Virus Glycoproteins. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1987; Byrd, F.I. and Dorsett, P.H. Structure of the Rubella Virus Spike Protein. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am.
Soc Microbiol. 1988; Byrd, F.I. and Dorsett, P.H. Isoelectric Focusing of Rubella Virus Proteins Treated with Nonionic Detergents, Urea and Dithiothreitol. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Microbiol. 1989; Byrd, F.I. and Dorsett, P.H. Two Dimensional Electrophoretic Analysis of the Rubella Virus Strain HPV77 Structural Components. Abs. Ann. Mtg. Am. Soc. Virol. 1990.
Dr. Dorsett’s contributions to science and technology has centered around the establishment of virus: host cell systems for producing relatively large quantities of viruses and subsequently developing purification protocols for each virus or antigen of interest. Many of these viruses previously had been difficult to propagate in sufficient titer to allow for economically feasible virus and/or antigen purification. Examples include:
Rubella Virus. Unique systems for virus propagation in Vero cells and virus purification by adsorption chromatography yielded a feasible antigen for use in various diagnostic formats.
Varicella-zoster Virus. A system of propagation in human fibroblasts followed by glycoprotein extraction allowed production of antigens for diagnostic purposes.
Hepatitis A Virus. Propagation of hepatitis A virus in Fetal Rhesus Kidney Cell culture allowed virus production in a lytic infection and purification to greater than 95% for use in diagnostic formats.
Cytomegalovirus. A production system using propagation in human fibroblasts to relatively high titer followed by selective antigen extraction yielded a good diagnostic antigen.
Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Virus production in Vero cells from a clinical isolate yielded a low passage virus stock that has been used successfully to initiate infection in volunteers which will be used as a challenge virus to evaluate therapeutic agents.