Robert Davey

Dr. Robert A. Davey is the Director of the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL) and the Edward Avedisian Professor of Microbiology at Boston University. Trained at the University of Adelaide and Harvard Medical School, Dr. Davey is an internationally recognized leader in high-biocontainment virology, specializing in high-consequence pathogens including filoviruses (Ebola and Marburg) and arenaviruses (Lassa). His scientific program is defined by strong collaborative science executed within BSL-4 containment, pairing live pathogen research with computational modeling, structural biology, and high-throughput omics interfaces to uncover host dependencies and accelerate targeted countermeasure discovery.

A main focus of Dr. Davey’s laboratory is prioritizing host-targeted therapeutics and dissecting viral entry mechanisms through combined computational and experimental strategies. His early work identified endosomal two-pore channels (TPCs) as host factors required for Ebola virus entry, demonstrating that small-molecule TPC inhibitors such as tetrandrine halt viral trafficking and protect against lethal infection (1). More recently, expanding on computational drug discovery, his team deployed multimodal network algorithms to rapidly repurpose approved drugs against emerging (2) and screened thousands of clinical compounds to uncover host targets across diverse scaffold classes, identifying small-molecule candidates such as obatoclax that significantly lower viral load in vivo (3). Additionally, his group integrated data mining of massive chemical libraries with cheminformatics to prioritize low-nanomolar inhibitors of Lassa virus glycoprotein-mediated membrane fusion, mapping sensitivity to conformational rearrangements in the GP2 domain (4). This translational pipeline builds on his long-standing contributions to biodefense countermeasures, including preclinical evaluations supporting FDA approval of Inmazeb (REGN-EB3) (5) and in partnership with NEIDL’s NSU group, WHO-recommended Phase 2/3 clinical trial advancement for candidate Bundibugyo ebolavirus vaccines.

Dr. Davey has cultivated extensive multi-institutional collaborations to map filovirus-host interactions using advanced proteomic, genomic, and structural technologies. Examples are: affinity tag-purification mass spectrometry to generate high-confidence Ebola virus-human protein-protein interaction maps (6), how an NNLNS motif within Ebola VP35 engages host Mindbomb 2 (MIB2) to modulate viral RNA synthesis and subvert immune signaling (7). Expanding on these host-pathogen interfaces in high containment, his laboratory worked collaboratively to integrate single-cell image-based CRISPR screening across nearly 40 million cells to uncover post-entry host regulators such as UQCRB and STRAP (8), and deployed proximity-dependent biotinylation to understand how viral VP35 co-opts the host mRNA decapping machinery through EDC4 (9).

With two decades of high-containment operational leadership, Dr. Davey oversees all scientific, safety, and administrative components of the NEIDL. Before joining Boston University in 2018, he established BSL-4 research programs at the University of Texas Medical Branch Shope Laboratory and served as Director of the ABSL-4 facility at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, leading FDA-inspected studies compliant with the Animal Rule. He actively collaborates with the national Regional Biocontainment Laboratory network to harmonize safety, biosecurity, and regulatory protocols across high-containment facilities. Mentorship is central to his mission: Dr. Davey has trained over 20 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows alongside more than 30 technical staff, guiding over 20 scientists into active BSL-4 work. Trainees from his laboratory currently hold prominent regulatory, scientific, and faculty leadership positions at the FDA, the NIH, Pharma, and major academic medical centers.

Selected Publications

1. Sakurai Y, Sakakibara N, Toyama M, Baba M, Davey RA. Novel amodiaquine derivatives potently inhibit Ebola virus infection. Antiviral Research 2018 Dec:160:175-182. PMID: 30395872 PMCID: PMC6374029
2. Gysi DM, Valle Í do, Zitnik M, Ameli A, Gan X, et al. 2021. Network medicine framework for identifying drug-repurposing opportunities for COVID-19. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 118(19): PMCID: PMC8126825
3. Patten JJ, Keiser PT, Morselli-Gysi D, Menichetti G, Mori H, et al. 2022. Identification of potent inhibitors of SARS-CoV-2 infection by combined pharmacological evaluation and cellular network prioritization. iScience. 25(9): PMCID: PMC9374484
4. Close BJ, La Rosa B, Ong C, Anantpadma M, Elkabbany AH, et al. 2026. In silico prioritization and cheminformatics identify structurally diverse small-molecule inhibitors of Lassa virus glycoprotein-mediated membrane fusion. SLAS Discov. Adv. Life Sci. R D. 42:100319 PMCID: PMC13567306
5. Rayaprolu V, Fulton BO, Rafique A, Arturo E, Williams D, et al. 2023. Structure of the Inmazeb cocktail and resistance to Ebola virus escape. Cell Host Microbe. 31(2):260-272.e7 PMCID: PMC10375381
6. Batra J, Hultquist JF, Liu D, Shtanko O, Von Dollen J, et al. 2018. Protein Interaction Mapping Identifies RBBP6 as a Negative Regulator of Ebola Virus Replication. Cell. 175(7):1917-1930.e13 PMID: 30550789
7. Uwase G, Luthra P, Vogel OA, Batra J, La Rosa BA, et al. 2025. Ebola virus VP35 NNLNS motif modulates viral RNA synthesis and MIB2-mediated signaling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 122(39):e2411961122 PMCID: PMC12330714
8. Carlson RJ, Patten JJ, Stefanakis G, Soong BY, Radhakrishnan A, et al. 2025. Single-cell image-based screens identify host regulators of Ebola virus infection dynamics. Nat. Microbiol. 10(8):1989–2002 PMCID: PM12671480
9. Donahue CJ, Kesari AS, Thakur N, Wang L, Stubbs SH, et al. 2025. A protein-proximity screen reveals Ebola virus co-opts the mRNA decapping complex through the scaffold protein EDC4. Nat. Commun. 16(1):8485 PMCID: PMC12475165