Warren symposium follows legacy of geneticist giant

If we want to understand how the brain creates memories, and how genetic disorders distort the brain’s machinery, then the fragile X gene is an ideal place to start. That’s why the Stephen T. Warren Memorial Symposium, taking place November 28-29 at Emory, will be a significant event for those interested in neuroscience and genetics. Stephen T. Warren, 1953-2021 Warren, the founding chair of Emory’s Department of Human Genetics, led an international team that discovered Read more

Mutations in V-ATPase proton pump implicated in epilepsy syndrome

Why and how disrupting V-ATPase function leads to epilepsy, researchers are just starting to figure Read more

Tracing the start of COVID-19 in GA

At a time when COVID-19 appears to be receding in much of Georgia, it’s worth revisiting the start of the pandemic in early 2020. Emory virologist Anne Piantadosi and colleagues have a paper in Viral Evolution on the earliest SARS-CoV-2 genetic sequences detected in Georgia. Analyzing relationships between those virus sequences and samples from other states and countries can give us an idea about where the first COVID-19 infections in Georgia came from. We can draw Read more
•••

Center for Childhood Infections and Vaccines

Yerkes researchers find Zika infection soon after birth leads to long-term brain problems

Researchers from the Yerkes National Primate Research Center have shown Zika virus infection soon after birth leads to long-term brain and behavior problems, including persistent socioemotional, cognitive and motor deficits, as well as abnormalities in brain structure and function. This study is one of the first to shed light on potential long-term effects of Zika infection after birth.

“Researchers have shown the devastating damage Zika virus causes to a fetus, but we had questions about what happens to the developing brain of a young child who gets infected by Zika,” says lead researcher Ann Chahroudi, MD, PhD, an affiliate scientist in the Division of Microbiology and Immunology at Yerkes, director of the Center for Childhood Infections and Vaccines (CCIV), Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta (CHOA) and Emory University, and an associate professor of pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.

“Our pilot study in nonhuman primates provides clues that Zika virus infection during the early postnatal period can have long-lasting impact on how the brain develops and works, and how this scenario has the potential to impact child behavior,” Chahroudi continues.

The study, published online in Nature Communications, followed four infant rhesus monkeys for one year after Zika virus infection at one month of age. Studying a rhesus monkey until the age of 1 translates to the equivalent of 4 to 5 years in human age. Researchers found postnatal Zika virus infections led to Impairments in memory function, significant changes in behavior, including reduced social interactions and increased emotional reactions, and some gross motor deficits. These changes corresponded with structural and functional brain changes the researchers found on MRI scans – findings that indicate long-term neurologic complications.

“Our findings demonstrate neurodevelopmental changes detected at 3 and 6 months of age are persistent,” says first author Jessica Raper, PhD, research assistant professor at Yerkes. (See Science Translational Medicine for an earlier study by members of the current research team.) “This is significant because it gives healthcare providers a better understanding of possible complications of Zika beyond infection during pregnancy and into the first years of life,” she adds.
Read more

Posted on May 27, 2020 by Wayne Drash in Neuro Leave a comment

Threading the RSV needle: live attenuated vaccine effective in animals

Crafting a vaccine against RSV (respiratory syncytial virus) has been a minefield for 50 years, but scientists believe they have found the right balance.

A 3-D rendering of a live-attenuated respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) particle, captured in a near-to-native state by cryo-electron tomography. Surface glycoproteins (yellow) are anchored on the viral membrane (cyan), with ribonucleoprotein complexes inside (red). Image courtesy of Zunlong Ke and Elizabeth Wright.

Researchers at Emory University School of Medicine and Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta have engineered a version of RSV that is highly attenuated – weakened in its ability to cause disease – yet potent in its ability to induce protective antibodies.

The researchers examined the engineered virus using cryo-electron microscopy and cryo-electron tomography techniques, and showed that it is structurally very similar to wild type virus. When used as a vaccine, it can protect mice and cotton rats from RSV infection.

The results were published this morning in Nature Communications.

“Our paper shows that it’s possible to attenuate RSV without losing any immunogenicity,” says senior author Martin Moore, PhD, associate professor of pediatrics at Emory University School of Medicine and a Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta Research Scholar. “This is a promising live-attenuated vaccine candidate that merits further investigation clinically.”

The next steps for this vaccine are to produce a clinical grade lot and conduct a phase 1 study of safety and immunogenicity in infants, Moore says. Read more

Posted on December 21, 2016 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment