Modeling Infectious Disease
 

The Cell Therapy Core uses primary cell isolates and in vivo models to study viral and parasitic infections that pose a threat to the blood supply. Recent work has contributed to the characterization of antibodies that inhibit Chikungunya virus infection and current work is focused on Zika virus. We are also modeling Babesia microti paresitemia in in vivo models to help develop technology for the detection of this blood-borne parasite.

Selected Publications:

Salvador B, Zhou Y, Michault A, Muench MO, Simmons G. Characterization of Chikungunya pseudotyped viruses: Identification of refractory cell lines and demonstration of cellular tropism differences mediated by mutations in E1 glycoprotein. Virology. 2009;393:33-41. PMC2760448

Glowacka I, Bertram S, Herzog P, Pfefferle S, Steffen I, Muench MO, Simmons G, Hofmann H, Kuri T, Weber F, Eichler J, Drosten C, Pöhlmann S. Differential downregulation of ACE2 by the spike proteins of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and human coronavirus NL63. J Virol. 2010;84:1198-1205. PMC2798380

Publicover J, Gaggar A, Nishimura S, Van Horn CM, Goodsell A, Muench MO, Reinhardt RL, van Rooijen N, Wakil AE, Peters M, Cyster JG, Erle DJ, Rosenthal P, Cooper S, Baron JL. Age-dependent hepatic lymphoid organization directs successful immunity to hepatitis B. J Clin Invest. 2013;123:3728-3739. PMC3754256

Salvador B, Sexton NR, Carrion R, Nunneley J, Patterson JL, Steffen I, Lu K, Muench MO, Lembo D, Simmons G. Filoviruses utilize glycosaminoglycans for their attachment to target cells. J Virol. 2013;87:3295-3304. PMC3592117

Selvarajah S, Sexton NR, Kahle KM, Fong RH, Mattia KA, Gardner J, Lu K, Liss NM, Salvador B, Tucker DF, Barnes T, Mabila M, Zhou X, Rossini G, Rucker JB, Sanders DA, Suhrbier A, Sambri V, Michault A, Muench MO, Doranz BJ, Simmons G. A neutralizing monoclonal antibody targeting the acid-sensitive region in chikungunya virus E2 protects from disease. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2013;7:e2423. PMC3772074

Ng TF, Kondov NO, Hayashimoto N, Uchida R, Cha Y, Beyer AI, Wong W, Pesavento PA, Suemizu H, Muench MO, Delwart E. Identification of an astrovirus commonly infecting laboratory mice in the US and Japan. PLoS ONE. 2013;8:e66937. PMC3692532

Fong RH, Banik SS, Mattia K, Barnes T, Tucker D, Liss N, Lu K, Selvarajah S, Srinivasan S, Mabila M, Miller A, Muench MO, Michault A, Rucker JB, Paes C, Simmons G, Kahle KM, Doranz BJ. Exposure of epitope residues on the outer face of the chikungunya virus envelope trimer determines antibody neutralizing efficacy. J Virol. 2014;88:14364-14379. PMC4249124

Jin J, Liss NM, Chen DH, Liao M, Fox JM, Shimak RM, Fong RH, Chafets D, Bakkour S, Keating S, Fomin ME, Muench MO, Sherman MB, Doranz BJ, Diamond MS, Simmons G. Neutralizing monoclonal antibodies block Chikungunya virus entry and release by targeting an epitope critical to viral pathogenesis. Cell Rep. 2015;13:2553-2564. PMC4720387

Ng TF, Zhang W, Sachsenröder J, Kondov NO, da Costa AC, Vega E, Holtz LR, Wu G, Wang D, Stine CO, Antonio M, Mulvaney US, Muench MO, Deng X, Ambert-Balay K, Pothier P, Vinjé J, Delwart E. A diverse group of small circular ssDNA viral genomes in human and non-human primate stools. Virus Evol. 2015;1:vev017. PMC5014484