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
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Emory-UGA Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center

Many flu viruses needed to crash zoonotic party

With winter on its way, some attention is returning to that other pesky virus: influenza. Emory virologist Anice Lowen and her colleagues recently published a paper in Nature Microbiology highlighting just how inefficient the flu virus is. (Also available on Biorxiv).

It’s not like sperm fertilizing an egg, where one does the trick. Several viral genomes are often required to crash the cellular party. This requirement for multiple genomes may be especially apparent when flu viruses are threatening to cross species barriers – from bird to human, for example.

Multiple infection appears to be more important in this situation!

“An exceptionally high need for multiple infection can occur when an IAV [influenza A virus] infects a new species,” the authors write. “Dependence on multiple infection is of particular interest to cross-species transfer for two reasons: first, it can be overcome in the absence of genetic adaptation through infection at a high dose and second, it leads to high levels of reassortment, which in turn can facilitate adaptation to a new host.”

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Posted on September 9, 2020 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment

A distinguished flu vaccine researcher

Congratulations to Richard Compans, PhD, who delivered the Dean’s Distinguished Faculty Lecture on May 12, joining a select group of Emory researchers who have received this award. After Dean Chris Larsen presented the award, Compans also received a Catalyst award from the Georgia Research Alliance, presented by GRA President and CEO Mike Cassidy.compans115a-2

At Emory, Compans has led research on ways to improve influenza vaccination, such as vaccines based on non-infectious virus-like particles and microneedle patches for delivery (now being tested clinically). The 2009 H1N1 flu epidemic, as well as concern about pandemic avian flu, have meant that Compans’ work has received considerable attention in the last several years. In his talk, he also discussed his early work on the structure of influenza virus, the virus’s complex ecology, and the limitations of current flu vaccines.

Compans was recruited to Emory from UAB in 1992 and was chair of Emory’s microbiology and immunology department for more than a decade. He was also instrumental in recruiting Rafi Ahmed to establish and lead the Emory Vaccine Center. He is now co-principal investigator of the Emory-UGA Center of Excellence for Influenza Research and Surveillance.

Some recent papers that illustrate the extent of Compans’ influence: Read more

Posted on May 20, 2016 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology Leave a comment

Emory flu researchers support H7N9 plan

Three Emory scientists have signed a letter published last week in Nature and Science outlining proposed research on the H7N9 avian influenza virus. A strain of H7N9 transmitted from poultry to humans was responsible for 43 deaths in China earlier this year, but so far, evidence shows that the virus does not transmit easily from human to human.

The letter advocates additional research including “gain-of-function” experiments: identifying what changes to naturally occurring viral strains would make them more transmissible, deadly, or drug-resistant in mammals.

The group of 23 flu researchers, led by Ron Fouchier at http://www.agfluide.com Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands and Yoshihiro Kawaoka at the University of Wisconsin, say these types of experiments are needed to help public health authorities prepare for and respond to potential future outbreaks.

The letter signers from Emory are: Walter Orenstein, MD, professor of medicine and principal investigator for the Emory-University of Georgia Influenza Pathogenesis and Immunology Research Center (IPIRC), Richard Compans, PhD, professor of microbiology and immunology and scientific director of IPIRC, and John Steel, PhD, assistant professor of microbiology and immunology. Read more

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Quinn Eastman in Immunology 1 Comment