Pathogens have been identified all over the world,

including within the United States, and the incidence is accelerating. Many of these pose the threat of causing large-scale epidemics or global pandemics. Not only is there an inability to predict their appearance, but there are critical gaps in our ability to detect, study, and respond to them in a timely manner. As a national resource, the NEIDL must anticipate these occurrences and the research needs to study them. Understanding basic molecular aspects of the pathogen, the interplay of the pathogen with its host, transmission dynamics, and clinical manifestations are all essential for the development of better diagnostics and safe, effective therapeutics and vaccines for us to treat, or even better, be able to prevent these diseases.

Below are some of the NEIDL’s current research projects grouped by virus:

COVID-19

“Cellular Nanosponges Inhibit SARS-CoV-2 Infectivity.”
“IgA MAb blocks SARS-CoV-2 Spike-ACE2 interaction providing mucosal immunity.”
“CD209L/L-SIGN and CD209/DC-SIGN act as receptors for SARS-CoV-2 and are differentially expressed in lung and kidney epithelial and endothelial cells.”
“SARS-CoV-2 Infection of Pluripotent Stem Cell-derived Human Lung Alveolar Type 2 Cells Elicits a Rapid Epithelial-Intrinsic Inflammatory Response.”

EBOLA / MARBURG

“Previremic Identification of Ebola or Marburg Virus Infection Using Integrated Host-Transcriptome and Viral Genome Detection.”
“Quantification of Viral and Host Biomarkers in the Liver of Rhesus Macaques: A Longitudinal Study of Zaire Ebolavirus Strain Kikwit (EBOV/Kik).”

HIV/AIDS

“Retention in HIV Care Among HIV-Seropositive Pregnant and Postpartum Women in Uganda: Results of a Randomized Controlled Trial.”

ZIKA

“One-step RT-qPCR assay for ZIKV RNA detection in Aedes aegypti samples: a protocol to study infection and gene expression during ZIKV infection.”
“Zika among international travelers presenting to GeoSentinel sites, 2012-2019: implications for clinical practice.”

YELLOW FEVER

“A Sensitive Yellow Fever Virus Entry Reporter Identifies Valosin-Containing Protein (VCP/p97) as an Essential Host Factor for Flavivirus Uncoating.”

OTHER RESEARCH PROJECTS

“SON DNA-binding protein mediates macrophage autophagy and responses to intracellular infection.”
“Stem cell-derived polarized hepatocytes.”
    “The respiratory syncytial virus polymerase can perform RNA synthesis with modified primers and nucleotide analogs.”