Dr. Randall Urban, VP and Chief Research Officer, has determined that UTMB research should be prioritized into six health communities. This researcher has received the following badge(s):

Our Lab focuses on investigation of the mechanisms of the high pathogenicity of viruses Ebola, Marburg and Lassa and development of vaccines and antibody treatments against these viruses. More recently we also started work with respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus and hantaviruses Andes and Sin Nombre. Our research includes, but not limited to, the following specific topics:

• Investigation of dysregulated immune response to Ebola virus at epigenetic level.
• Development of vaccines and investigation of the mechanisms of their protective effects.
• In-depth characterization of antibody responses to viral infections in humans.
• Development of therapeutic human monoclonal antibody treatments and investigation of the mechanisms of their protective effects.

To get insight into these scientific topics, we are using molecular tools, including reverse genetics (i.e. development of genetically modified filoviruses from the DNA-copies of their genomes and use of mini-genomes), epigenetic methods (ATAC-seq, cut-and-run), single-cell sequencing, immunological tools such as multi-parameter flow cytometry, human immune cells and animal models. Our research includes experiments in BSL-2, BSL-3 and BSL-4 labs of the Galveston National Laboratory. Our research is supported by grants from NIH and DoD and by contracts.

Our collaborators include Dr. Mariano Garcia-Blanco (University of Virginia), Dr. James Crowe, Jr. (Vanderbilt University), Dr. Andrea Carfi (Moderna), Dr. Stuart Sealfon (Mount Sinai School of Medicine), Dr. Erica Ollmann Saphire (La Jolla Institute for Immunology), Dr. Thomas Geisbert (UTMB), and other groups.