tenOever LaboratoryVirology · Host defense · RNA biology
Technologies

Animal transmission models

animal, organoid and tissue models

Recorded terms: cohousing transmission model; ferret transmission study; hamster challenge and transmission models; nebulized aerosol exposure

2021 · Nature Biomedical Engineering · collaborative

A human-airway-on-a-chip for the rapid identification of candidate antiviral therapeutics and prophylactics

A microfluidic bronchial airway chip lined with differentiated human airway epithelium and pulmonary endothelium reproduces strain-dependent influenza virulence, cytokine output and neutrophil recruitment, and when drugs are delivered at clinically achievable blood concentrations under flow it separates candidates that work in cell lines from those that also work in hamsters challenged with SARS-CoV-2.

2021 · Science Immunology · lab-led

Immune memory from SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters provides variant-independent protection but still allows virus transmission

Longitudinal tracking of antigen-specific lymphocytes in golden hamsters shows that memory from the founder strain of SARS-CoV-2 clears a beta variant rechallenge and that transferred memory T cells alone lower viral load, yet protected animals still infected every cohoused naive partner.

2014 · Cell Host & Microbe · lab-led

Influenza A Virus Transmission Bottlenecks Are Defined by Infection Route and Recipient Host

Genetically barcoded influenza A virus libraries tracked through cell culture, embryonated eggs, guinea pigs, ferrets and mice show that transmission bottlenecks differ by route and recipient, with airborne transmission reducing a diverse inoculum to as few as two founder clones.

2013 · Nature Biotechnology · co-led

MicroRNA-based strategy to mitigate the risk of gain-of-function influenza studies

Engineering target sites for miR-192, a microRNA abundant in human and mouse respiratory tissue but absent from the ferret respiratory tract, into the influenza A virus hemagglutinin segment attenuates the virus in mice while leaving replication and transmission in ferrets intact, providing a genetic layer of biocontainment for transmission studies.