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Brett Case

Assistant Professor, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology

Check out the Case Lab webpage!

James Brett Case, PhD, is a viral immunologist whose research focuses on understanding how emerging RNA viruses cause disease and how protective immunity can be harnessed to prevent infection and pathogenesis. His laboratory integrates molecular virology, animal models, immunology, and countermeasure design to investigate fundamental questions in viral pathogenesis, host range, immune protection, and viral adaptation. A major emphasis of his research is defining systemic and mucosal correlates of protection against highly pathogenic RNA viruses and translating these insights into broadly protective vaccines and monoclonal antibody therapies.

Dr. Case earned his PhD in Microbiology and Immunology from Vanderbilt University, where he studied the molecular mechanisms governing coronavirus replication, genome fidelity, and resistance to innate immunity in the laboratory of Dr. Mark Denison. He subsequently completed postdoctoral training with Dr. Michael Diamond at the Washington University School of Medicine, where his work encompassed the development of animal models, vaccines, antibodies, and antiviral strategies against SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging viruses.

Dr. Case is a former Helen Hay Whitney Foundation and Moderna Global Fellow. He has contributed to more than 70 scientific publications spanning coronavirus biology, viral pathogenesis, mucosal vaccination, antibody-mediated protection, and antiviral therapeutics. His research has helped define mechanisms of coronavirus replication and immune evasion, establish experimental models of emerging viral diseases, and advance mucosal vaccines and broadly protective countermeasures against diverse Sarbecoviruses and Merbecoviruses.

Dr. Case currently serves as an Assistant Professor at the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and in the Department of Virology, Immunology, and Microbiology at the Boston University Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine.

Research Interests:

  • Pathogenesis of Emerging RNA Viruses:  We investigate how emerging RNA viruses infect susceptible hosts, disseminate between tissues, and cause respiratory, vascular, neurological, and systemic disease. Our work focuses primarily on coronaviruses, including Sarbecoviruses and Merbecoviruses, and bunyaviruses, particularly hantaviruses and orthobunyaviruses.
  • Systemic and Mucosal Antiviral Immunity:  We study how systemic and tissue-localized immune responses control virus infections. A particular emphasis is placed on defining mucosal immune responses and correlates of protection against respiratory viruses.
  • Vaccine and Antibody Countermeasures:  We develop vaccines, monoclonal antibodies, and adaptable countermeasure platforms against emerging and antigenically diverse viruses. Our goal is to generate interventions that provide broad protection against entire virus families.
  • Viral Adaptation, Host Range, and Transmission:  We investigate how immune pressure and tissue-specific environments shape viral adaptation, pathogenesis, and viral transmission. Using representatives from multiple virus families as complementary systems, we seek to define the molecular determinants that govern species tropism, immune escape, and emergence.

Selected Publications

  1. SARS-CoV-2: The interplay between evolution and host immunity. Case JB, Jain S, Suthar MS, Diamond MS. Annu Rev Immunol. 2024 Dec 20. doi: 10.1146/annurev-immunol-083122-043054. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 39705164.
  2. A trivalent mucosal vaccine encoding phylogenetically inferred ancestral RBD sequences confers pan-Sarbecovirus protection in mice. Case JB, Sanapala S, Dillen C, Rhodes V, Zmasek C, Chicz TM, Switzer CE, Scheaffer SM, Georgiev G, Jacob-Dolan C, Hauser BM, Dos Anjos DCC, Adams LJ, Soudani N, Liang CY, Ying B, McNamara RP, Scheuermann RH, Boon ACM, Fremont DH, Whelan SPJ, Schmidt AG, Sette A, Grifoni A, Frieman MB, Diamond MS. Cell Host Microbe. 2024 Nov 10:S1931-3128(24)00403-7. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2024.10.016. Online ahead of print. PMID: 39561781.
  3. Resilience of S309 and AZD7442 monoclonal antibody treatments against infection by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron lineage strains. Case JB, Mackin S, Errico JM, Chong Z, Madden EA, Guarino B, Schmid MA, Rosenthal K, Ren K, Jung A, Droit L, Handley SA, Halfmann PJ, Kawaoka Y, Crowe Jr. JE, Fremont DH, Virgin HW, Loo YM, Esser MT, Purcell LA, Corti D, Diamond MS. Nat Commun. 2022 Jul 2;13(1):3824. doi: 10.1038/s41467-022-31615-7. PMID: 35780162
  4. Multivalent designed proteins neutralize SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern and confer protection against infection in mice. Hunt AC*, Case JB*, Park YJ*, Cao L*, Wu K*, Walls AC*, Liu Z, Bowen JE, Yeh HW, Saini S, Helms L, Zhao YT, Hsiang TY, Starr TN, Goreshnik I, Kozodoy L, Carter L, Ravichandran R, Green LB, Matochko WL, Thomson CA, Vögeli B, Krüger A, VanBlargan LA, Chen RE, Ying B, Bailey AL, Kafai NM, Boyken SE, Ljubetič A, Edman N, Ueda G, Chow CM, Johnson M, Addetia A, Navarro MJ, Panpradist N, Gale M Jr, Freedman BS, Bloom JD, Ruohola-Baker H, Whelan SPJ, Stewart L, Diamond MS, Veesler D, Jewett MC, Baker D. Sci Transl Med. 2022 May 25;14(646):eabn1252. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abn1252. Epub 2022 May 25. PMID: 35412328. * Denotes co-first authorship.
  5. Ultrapotent miniproteins targeting the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain protect against infection and disease. Case JB, Chen RE, Cao L, Ying B, Winkler ES, Johnson M, Goreshnik I, Pham MN, Shrihari S, Kafai NM, Bailey AL, Xie X, Shi PY, Ravichandran R, Carter L, Stewart L, Baker D, Diamond MS. Cell Host Microbe. 2021 Jun 24;29(7):1151-1161.e5. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2021.06.008. PMID: 34192518
  6. In vivo monoclonal antibody efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 variant strains. Chen RE*, Winkler ES*, Case JB*, Aziati ID, Bricker TL, Joshi A, Darling TL, Ying B, Errico JM, Shrihari S, VanBlargan LA, Xie X, Gilchuk P, Zost SJ, Droit L, Liu Z, Stumpf S, Wang D, Handley SA, Stine WB Jr, Shi PY, Davis-Gardner ME, Suthar MS, Knight MG, Andino R, Chiu CY, Ellebedy AH, Fremont DH, Whelan SPJ, Crowe JE Jr, Purcell L, Corti D, Boon ACM, Diamond MS. Nature. 2021 Jun 21. doi: 10.1038/s41586-021-03720-y. PMID: 34153975 * Denotes co-first authorship.
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