Cheng Huang
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
RNA viruses copy their genomes sloppily. Their copying enzyme makes mistakes and has no built-in proofreading, which generates the variation that lets viruses adapt but also risks producing too many broken genomes to survive.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biochemistry
Medicine & Clinical Research
- Topics
Lassa virus
Lassa fever
arenavirus
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2030
What they work on
- Determine in animal models whether disabling the nucleoprotein's DEDDh exoribonuclease motif, which trims RNA, increases mutation in the Lassa virus genome, raises production of non-standard genome copies, and changes how severe infection becomes.
- Test whether mutations in the viral copying enzyme's motif G and cap-binding domain, selected during repeated passaging of exoribonuclease-deficient virus, restore efficient genome synthesis and copying accuracy in engineered recombinant Lassa viruses.
- Use biochemical assays to work out the mechanism by which the nucleoprotein exoribonuclease motif reduces nucleotide substitutions during viral RNA replication.
- Test whether loss of the nucleoprotein exoribonuclease makes Lassa virus more sensitive to mutagenic nucleoside analogues, drug-like molecules that raise the viral error rate.
More about the research
How each virus keeps that balance is a basic question with practical consequences, because drugs that push the error rate higher can collapse a virus population. This project examines how Lassa virus manages copying errors. Lassa virus causes Lassa fever, a disease endemic in West Africa with few vaccines or treatments, and it is classed as a top-priority pathogen and the model member of its virus family in national pandemic preparedness planning.
Why it matters
Lassa fever is endemic in West Africa and has limited vaccine and antiviral options. Identifying a viral protein that protects the accuracy of genome copying would reveal a vulnerability: blocking that activity could make the virus mutate itself into weakness, suggesting a route to new antiviral drugs or to weakened strains usable in vaccines. The work also fills basic gaps in arenavirus biology relevant to pandemic preparedness.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
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University of Michigan, MI·Microbiology & Immunology
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Hideki Aihara
University of Minnesota, MN·Biochemistry
Investigate how host cell factors take part in integration of Human T-cell Leukemia virus and Rous sarcoma virus, building on structural studies of their intasomes, the protein–DNA complexes that insert viral DNA into chromosomes.
Natasha Tilston
Indiana University-Purdue University-Indianapolis, IN·Microbiology & Immunology
Identify, using cell culture infection experiments, how the different glycoproteins carried by circulating Oropouche virus reassortants change viral phenotypes such as entry into host cells.
The school
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston: 14 labs on PI Pages, $241M a year on research, 141 research doctorates a year.
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