Moriah Szpara
Pennsylvania State University, PA·Microbiology & Immunology
Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infects billions of people. Adults usually get recurring sores on the skin or mucous membranes as the virus wakes from its hiding place in nerve cells.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Genetics
- Topics
herpes simplex virus
neonatal herpes
viral genomics
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jan 2027
What they work on
- Use high-throughput sequencing and comparative genomics to map HSV1 and HSV2 genetic variation between newborns and within each infant, across virus samples from different body sites.
- Profile each cultured neonatal HSV isolate in a panel of cell types, including neurons, measuring replication, cell-to-cell spread, plaque shape and viral protein expression and location.
- Measure how fast neonatal HSV isolates spread and invade the nervous system in mouse models of disseminated or brain infection.
- Link viral genetic and cell-based differences to virulence in mice and to de-identified clinical outcomes, such as brain versus skin disease and antiviral response, to prepare for a viral genome-wide association study.
More about the research
In newborns the infection is far more dangerous. About half of neonatal infections spread into the brain and spinal cord or to organs like the lungs and liver, causing much higher rates of death and lifelong disability. Why some babies get invasive disease and others do not is unknown. One possibility is genetic differences between virus strains.
Why it matters
Newborns with invasive HSV infection face high risks of death and lasting neurologic damage. If viral genetic features can predict which infections will become invasive, doctors could identify the highest-risk infants early and target interventions to limit viral spread and improve outcomes.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Elizabeth M Bradshaw
Columbia University, NY·Neuroscience
Measure how microglia, the brain's resident immune cells, respond to HSV-1 infection depending on each person's AD-associated genetic background, using transcriptomics and in vitro cell models.
Angus C Wilson
New York University, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify the viral reactivation signature that neurons recognize when latent HSV-1 reawakens, using cultured primary neurons as a model of latency and reactivation together with single-cell technologies.
David Koelle
University of Washington, WA·Microbiology & Immunology
Expand the collection of varicella zoster virus-specific human monoclonal antibodies cloned from shingles skin biopsies and map their fine specificity against viral envelope, tegument, enzyme, and nuclear proteins.
The school
Pennsylvania State University: 60 labs on PI Pages, $1.3B a year on research, 743 research doctorates a year.
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