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Team of researchers led by Virginia Tech seeks to mitigate flu and other respiratory viruses for children in indoor environments

Linsey Marr, the Charles P. Lunsford Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering, is leading a team of researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Pittsburgh, Emory University, and Georgetown University to investigate the transmission of flu in child care settings. Their project, MITIGATE FLU, which stands for Multidisciplinary InvesTIGation to Ease inFLUenza, received $8.8 million in funding from a grant through Flu Lab, an organization that supports bold approaches to defeat influenza. Marr said the team hopes to understand how behavioral and environmental factors affect transmission rates and identify the most effective interventions.

“We know a lot about the structure of the flu virus and what happens to it in the body, but we still don’t have good answers to basic questions about transmission, like, ‘How much is transmitted by breathing in aerosols versus touching a contaminated surface?’ and ‘Why is it seasonal?’” said Marr. “Some of these same questions have also been raised about COVID-19.” READ MORE>>

Researcher receives three grants from the National Institutes of Health to combat mosquito-borne viruses

West Nile virus, Usutu virus, Zika virus, and St. Louis encephalitis virus are all transmitted by mosquitoes and cause a significant threat to human health.

Nisha Duggal, an assistant professor of biomedical sciences and pathobiology in the Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, has recently received three R21 grants from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) totaling $825,000 to combat the transmission of these diseases, develop therapeutics, and predict future disease in humans.

“Mosquito-borne viruses are emerging globally, with increasing host range and disease potential. With this funding, we are determining who is most at risk for transmission and looking to develop future vaccines and therapeutics,” said Duggal, who is also an affiliated faculty member of the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, and Arthropod-borne Pathogens and the Fralin Life Sciences Institute. READ MORE>>

Oversized and understudied: Researchers begin to uncover the mysterious lives of jumbo bacteriophages

Viruses are tiny but mighty intruders that can be found in the environment including in human bodies, and they can play a variety of roles in ecosystems. Viruses also come in a range of sizes. Some are even larger than bacteria, which scientists thought were rare cases until recently.

Among these large viruses are bacterial viruses called jumbo bacteriophages. Jumbo phages were discovered decades ago, but they have, rather paradoxically, mostly escaped further investigation because scientists were looking on too small of a scale.

Alaina Weinheimer, a Ph.D. candidate, and Frank Aylward, an assistant professor of biological sciences in Virginia Tech’s College of Science and an affiliate faculty member in the Center for Emerging, Zoonotic, Arthropod-borne Pathogens within the Fralin Life Sciences Institute, are seeking to answer a few big questions about these jumbo viruses. In a recent study, Weinheimer constructed and analyzed the genomes of marine jumbo phages, which led to a number of findings about their evolution and ecology. READ MORE>>

You are invited to attend the CeZAP Spring Mix and Mingle. Meet the Infectious Disease Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program (ID IGEP) students and get to know the CeZAP affiliated faculty members.
Drinks and hors d'oeuvres will be served.

2022 Virginia Agriculture and Natural Resources Summit:
Farm, Forestry, Food, and Fiber of the Future

Tuesday, April 12 - Wednesday, April 13, 2022
Richmond Marriott | Short Pump

Through interactive sessions, networking events, and small breakouts, you can help identify opportunities for dynamic engagement in private-public partnerships to ensure that Virginia's ANR industries continue to prosper.

The Summit is hosted by Virginia Tech College of Agriculture and Life Sciences,Virginia Tech Center for Advanced Innovation in Agriculture, Virginia CooperativeExtension, Virginia Agricultural Experiment Station, Virginia Tech College of Natural Resources and Environment, and Virginia-Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine

Virginia Agriculture and Natural Resources (ANR) Summit Flyer

Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series in Infectious Disease

Spring 2022 Seminar Schedule
Tuesdays at 12:30pm – 1:00pm
Zoom: https://virginiatech.zoom.us/j/89419666443
Recorded seminars are available for viewing on our website HERE

January 18, 2022:
Jaline Gerardin, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Northwestern University
"Mathematical modeling to inform malaria policy"

January 25, 2022:
Nick W. Ruktanonchai, Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Population Health Sciences, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine
"Using human mobility data to predict and control infectious disease spread"

February 1, 2022:

Speaker: Andrew Lowell Ph.D. , Assistant Professor, Department of Chemistry, and Anne M. Brown Ph.D. Assistant Professor, Department of Biochemistry
"Overcoming AMR through antibiotic redesign: Coupling computational and experimental science"

February 8, 2022:
Ben Hause, Ph.D.  Assistant Professor, South Dakota State University
"Metagenomic sequencing for virus discovery and characterization"

February 15, 2022:
Kim Seed, Ph.D.  Assistant Professor, Department of Plant and Microbial Biology, UC Berkeley
"Fighting with phages: how epidemic Vibrio cholerae defends against viral attack"

February 22, 2022:
Robyn Klein, Ph.D.  The Robert E. and Louise F. Dunn Distinguished Professor of Medical Sciences, Director of the Center for Neuroimmunology and Neuroinfectious Diseases, and Professor of Medicine, Pathology and Immunology, and Neurosciences, Washington University School of Medicine
"Emerging RNA viruses and neurologic sequelae"

March 1, 2022:
Jeff Freeman, Ph.D.  Senior Professional Staff in the National Health Mission Area of the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
"Evolution of the national COVID-19 response: Lessons learned and a way forward"

March 15, 2022:
Xinhua Chen, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Medicine, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
"C.difficile Infectious --- What Remains Difficult?"

March 22, 2022:
James Weger-Lucarelli, Ph.D.  Assistant Professor, Department of Biomedical Sciences and Pathobiology, VA-MD College of Veterinary Medicine
"SARS-CoV-2 Origins and Threat for Spillover Into Animal Reservoirs"

March 29, 2022:
Townsend Peterson, Ph.D. University Distinguished Professor, Biodiversity Institute, The University of Kansas
"Distributions of Tick Vector Species in the United States: Shifting Distributional Patterns and Transmission Opportunity"

April 5, 2022:
Eva Harris, Ph.D.  Professor of Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, UC Berkeley
"The double-edged sword: Dengue and Zika virus pathogenesis and immunity"

April 12, 2022:
Rhoel Dinglasan, Ph.D.  Professor of Infectious Diseases and Director of the CDC Southeastern Regional Center of Excellence in Vector Borne Diseases

April 19, 2022:
Stacey Schultz-Cherry, Ph.D.  Deputy Director, World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals and Birds
Influenza Pathogenesis in Vulnerable Populations

May 3, 2022:
Nancy Keller Ph.D.  Professor of Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Bacteriloogy, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Infectious Disease Journal Club
Journal club has moved to Tuesdays at 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm
ILSB Building, Room 1040
Drinks and snacks will be provided
More information can be found on the website HERE

April 5th Journal Club: “Human Astroviruses: a tale of two strains”

April 12th Journal Club: “Activation of the DNA damage response is a conserved function of HIV-1 and HIV-2 Vpr that is independent of SLX4 recruitment”

April 19th Journal Club: “Transcription factor repurposing offers insights into evolution of biosynthetic gene cluster regulation”

Recent Publications by CeZAP Affiliated Faculty

Alginate microencapsulation of an attenuated O-antigen mutant of Francisella tularensis LVS as a model for a vaccine delivery vehicle Freudenberger Catanzaro KC, Lahmers KK, Allen IC, Inzana TJ. PLoS One DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0259807

Flagellin outer domain dimerization modulates motility in pathogenic and soil bacteria from viscous environments Kreutzberger M, Sobe R, Sauder A, Chatterjee S, Pena A, Wang F, Giron J, Kiessling V, Costa T, Conticello V, Grankel G, Kendall M, Scharf B, Egelman E. Nature DOI: 10.1038/s41467-022-29069-y

Runting Stunting Syndrome in Broiler Chickens Is Associated with Altered Intestinal Stem Cell Morphology and Gene Expression Cloft S, Kinstler S, Reno K, Sellers H, Franca M, Ecco R, Lee M, Maurer J, Wong E. Avian Dis DOI: 10.1637/21-00109

Anaerobic soil disinfestation, amendment-type, and irrigation regimen influence Salmonella survival and die-off in agricultural soils Murphy C, Weller D, Reiter M, Bardsley C, Eifert J, Ponder M, Rideout S, Strawn L. J Appl Microbiol
DOI: 10.1111/jam.15324

Temperature impacts the environmental suitability for malaria transmission by Anopheles gambiae and Anopheles stephensi Villena O, Ryan S, Murdock C, Johnson L. Ecology DOI: 10.1002/ecy.3685

Estimating changes in emergency department visits associated with floods caused by Tropical Storm Imelda using satellite observations and syndromic surveillance Ramesh B, Jagger M, Zaitchik B, Kolivras K, Swarup S, Yang B, Corpuz B, Gohlke J. Health Place DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2022.102757

Infection strategy and biogeography distinguish cosmopolitan groups of marine jumbo bacteriophages Weinheimer A, Aylward FO. ISME J. DOI: 10.1038/s41396-022-01214-x

Pathogen prevalence in Amblyomma americanum and Ixodes scapularis ticks from central Appalachian Virginia, U.S.A. Whitlow A, Cumbie A, Eastwood A. J of Vector Ecology DOI: 10.52707/1081-1710-471.51

Disease-Associated Multimolecular Signature in the Urine of Patients with Lyme Disease Detected Using Raman Spectroscopy and Chemometrics Senger RS, Issa A, Agnor B, Talty J, Hollis A, Robertson J.Appl Spectrosc
DOI: 10.1177/00037028211061769

Meta-analysis of the Ralstonia solanacearum species complex (RSSC) based on comparative evolutionary genomics and reverse ecology Sharma P, Johnson MA, Mazloom R, Allen C, Heath LS, Lowe-Power TM, Vinatzer BA. Sci Rep DOI: 10.1038/s41598-022-05381-x

Classic Hoarding Cages Increase Gut Bacterial Abundance and Reduce the Individual Immune Response of Honey Bee (Apis mellifera) Workers. Gregory CL, Fell RD, Belden LK, Walke JB. J Insect Sci. DOI: 10.1093/jisesa/ieac016

Protection Generated by Prior Exposure to Pathogens Depends on both Priming and Challenge Dose Weitzman C, Ceja G, Leon A, Hawley D. Infect Immun DOI: 10.1128/IAI.00537-21

Use of Genome Editing Techniques to Produce Transgenic Farm Animals Hay A, Farrell K, Leeth C, Lee K. Ad Exp Med Biol DOI: 10.1007/978-3-030-85686-1_14

The Infectious Disease Interdisciplinary Graduate Education Program (ID IGEP) offers graduate students the opportunity to get involved in remarkably diverse research approaches and topics, such as SARS-COV-2 vaccines, antiviral therapies, and tick-borne diseases.

“The idea is that these students are going to have a very broad exposure to the field of infectious disease from multiple perspectives, including not just the traditional sciences but the humanities perspectives as well,” said Ann Stevens the co-director of the ID IGEP. READ MORE>>

We had a great turnout for the first ID IGEP recruiting event Poster Presentation Session. Thank you to all who presented and who attended!

COVID-19 Outreach Activities by CeZAP Affiliated Faculty

Linsey Marr on how improving ventilation will stop more than covid
Linsey Marr weighs in on airlines dropping mask mandates
Linsey Marr address wearing a mask if no one else is in National Geographic
Tom Ewing discusses how we historically view the flu might compare to future attitudes towards covid

COVID-19 Publications by CeZAP Affiliated Faculty

SARS-CoV-2 Survival in Common Non-Alcoholic and Alcoholic Beverages Ja M, Joyce J, Bertke A. Foods DOI:10.3390/foods11060802

A Novel Bacterial Protease Inhibitor Adjuvant in RBD-Based COVID-19 Vaccine Formulations Containing Alum Increases Neutralizing Antibodies, Specific Germinal Center B Cells and Confers Protection Against SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Mice. Coria LM, Saposnik LM, Pueblas Castro C, Castro EF, Bruno LA, Stone WB, Pérez PS, Darriba ML, Chemes LB, Alcain J, Mazzitelli I, Varese A, Salvatori M, Auguste AJ, Álvarez DE, Pasquevich KA, Cassataro J. Front Immunol. DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.844837

Bats are in trouble —Virgnia Tech researchers are hoping to help

Bats are in trouble. This week, the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service proposed shifting one species, the northern long-eared bat, from its current threatened status to endangered. This is a result of white-nose syndrome.

Once abundant in Wisconsin, the number of northern long-eared bats in the state has declined by 99% — and that's just one of many species impacted by a deadly fungus. But scientists are looking for solutions to save bats, including a team from Virginia Tech that includes CeZAP Affiliated faculty members Kate Langwig and Joe Hoyt along with their grad students
READ MORE>>

Vaccine Efficacy Evaluation The Gnotobiotic Pig Model by Lijuan Yuan

Testing the immunogenicity, protective efficacy and safety in animal models is a crucial step in vaccine development. Pigs raised in germ-free environments, called gnotobiotic (Gn) pigs, are one of the most useful animal models for testing vaccines. The Gn pig model is a widely accepted model for studying pathogenesis and immunity and an ideal model for pre-clinical testing for the safety and efficacy of enteric viral vaccines. Through these studies and others, the Gn pig model has been established as the most reliable animal model for pre-clinical evaluation of human rotavirus and norovirus vaccines. This book provides detailed information on establishing Gn pig models, determining a proper virus inoculum pool and challenge dose, measuring protection and calculating efficacy, and delineating intestinal and systemic immune responses associated with the protection. READ MORE>>

Researcher receives grant to develop improved Lyme disease diagnostics and therapeutics

Brandon Jutras, assistant professor in the Department of Biochemistry in the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, received a grant from the Global Lyme Alliance to improve diagnostic testing for all stages of Lyme disease and to develop new ways to treat patients when conventional treatment options have failed.
READ MORE>>

To Foster and Promote a Cohesive and Synergistic Environment for Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Research

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