Dr. Priscilla Yang is a recognized expert in the fields of chemical biology and virology. She is a leader in developing and applying chemical tools to study the interaction of viral pathogens with the host and to identify host-virus interactions that can be exploited for antiviral purposes. She was among the first to develop high-throughput small- molecule screens to identify host effectors of dengue virus replication. In collaboration with Mariano Garcia- Blanco, she extended this... Read more
Dr. Stephen Harrison works on the structure of viruses and viral proteins, as examined at high resolution by x-ray crystallography and, more recently, by cryoEM. He has studied the surface glycoproteins of flaviviruses, herpesviruses, coronaviruses, arenaviruses, and HIV/SIV, as well the HA-mediated fusion mechanisms of influenza virus. The last of these projects has included collaboration with Dr. Whelan. His recent work on dengue virus fusion inhibitors, in collaboration with Dr. Yang, has... Read more
Dr. Nathanael Gray is a recognized leader in the field of chemical biology and small molecule protein kinase inhibitors and has 125 published articles and over 40 patents on this subject. Dr. Gray is an expert in the disciplines of combinatorial, medicinal chemistry, and small molecule mechanism-of-action studies. He has contributed to the development of several clinical candidates targeting oncogenic kinases, and his team was responsible for developing the drug NVP-BAF312, an agonist of the... Read more
Dr. James Cunningham has over 20 years of experience in the identification of viral receptors and mechanisms by which enveloped virus proteins mediate fusion. His recent work on ebolavirus uncovered two essential host factors that function at the entry stages of the replication cycle. This work reveals a two-step mechanism of infection in which the virus glycoprotein is cleaved by the endosomal protease cathepsin B to remove a heavily glycosylated surface domain and expose an internal domain... Read more
Dr. Sean Whelan is an expert in the field of negative-strand RNA viruses. He pioneered approaches to genetic manipulation of rhabdoviruses and has exploited that system to study viral entry and gene expression. His lab has exploited VSV vectors in which the glycoprotein is replaced by those of pathogenic viruses such as Ebola to screen haploid human cells in which host genes were inactivated by insertional mutagenesis. This work identified NPC1 as the receptor for Ebola virus and... Read more
Dr. Tomas Kirchhausen is an expert on endocytic uptake mechanisms, and he recently pioneered high-resolution live cell imaging approaches to visualize clathrin-dependent endocytosis in live cells in real time. He has successfully applied this approach to the study of both enveloped and nonenveloped virus entry, including studies on reovirus, rotavirus (in collaboration with Dr. Harrison), vesicular stomatitis, rabies, and Junin viruses (in collaboration with Dr. Whelan), Ebola virus (in... Read more
Dr. Amal Rahmeh has made significant contributions to the understanding of the assembly, molecular architecture and enzymology of the RNA synthesis machinery of negative-sense RNA viruses. Dr. Rahmeh has extensive expertise in protein biochemistry, enzymology and virology. She provides scientific leadership and laboratory support for all Investigators and facilitates collaborations across the Center’s four multidisciplinary teams and the Center’s service core. She also ensures efficient... Read more
