Klaus Fruh
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Cytomegalovirus (CMV) is a common virus that usually causes mild illness in healthy adults, but when a pregnant person passes it to the fetus it becomes the leading infectious cause of birth defects, including hearing loss and developmental problems. Decades of vaccine work aimed at the virus's surface proteins have not produced a licensed vaccine.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Genetics
- Topics
cytomegalovirus
congenital infection
congenital CMV
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through May 2029
What they work on
- Determine which of the six rhesus CMV UL146 family proteins, viral mimics of host chemokines, are required for the virus to spread, and test whether the human CMV versions UL146 and UL147 can substitute for them.
- Define which chemokine structural features are needed for spread, and track how these viral proteins alter nearby cells using placental organoid cultures, immunohistochemistry, and single-cell transcriptomics and proteomics.
- Test dissemination of UL146-deleted rhesus CMV to tissues after intravenous infection and transmission to the fetus in CD4+ T cell-depleted dams, then ask whether restoring the minimal gene set restores congenital infection.
- Assess whether UL146 family proteins trigger immunity during natural infection, and whether vaccinating macaques against the essential subset, or transferring IgG antibodies from them, limits spread and protects the fetus.
More about the research
This project tests a different idea: block the molecules the virus uses to spread through the body before it can ever reach the fetus.
Why it matters
Congenital CMV is the most common infectious cause of birth defects, and no vaccine exists. If the viral chemokine-like proteins are what allow the virus to travel through the body and reach the fetus, they become a target: a vaccine or antibody aimed at them could potentially blunt spread during a first infection in pregnancy and reduce transmission, offering a route that differs from the surface-protein vaccines tried so far.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Dennis Hartigan-O'Connor
University of California-Davis, CA·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether partial-agonist IL-10 cytokines combined with mRNA vaccination can make HIV-specific T-cell responses unusually durable in macaques, including CXCR5+ follicular T cells that enter lymph-node sites where antibody-producing B cells mature.
William Britt
University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL·Microbiology & Immunology
Define how the essential envelope glycoprotein complex gM/gN interacts with membrane-associated outer tegument proteins to drive envelopment of human cytomegalovirus in the cell's assembly compartment.
Cynthia McMillen
University of Pittsburgh, PA·Microbiology & Immunology·Early-career
Compare mother-to-offspring transmission of four Oropouche virus strains (BeAn19991, BeH759021, LET2083, AM0088) from four genetically distinct lineages, to test whether genomic reassortment underlies changes in tissue targeting and virulence.
The school
Weill Medical College of Cornell University: 35 labs on PI Pages, $1.6B a year on research, 59 research doctorates a year.
Reach out
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