Publications by authors named "Elizabeth LeMasters"
The New Vaccine Surveillance Network (NVSN) is a prospective, active, population-based surveillance platform that enrolls children with acute respiratory illnesses (ARIs) at seven pediatric medical centers. ARIs are caused by respiratory viruses including influenza virus, respiratory syncytial virus (RSV), human metapneumovirus (HMPV), human parainfluenza viruses (HPIVs), and most recently SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19), which result in morbidity among infants and young children (1-6). NVSN estimates the incidence of pathogen-specific pediatric ARIs and collects clinical data (e.
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- A new strategy to cure HIV involves using latency reversal agents (LRAs) to activate dormant HIV genes in infected cells, followed by clearing those activated cells.
- Researchers screened fungal secondary metabolites and discovered gliotoxin (GTX) as a promising novel LRA that significantly stimulates HIV-1 gene expression in latently infected cells.
- GTX works by disrupting a protein complex (7SK snRNP) that inhibits HIV transcription, which leads to the activation of RNA polymerase II and the production of HIV RNA.
Maintaining cold chain while transporting medical supplies and samples is difficult in remote settings. Failure to maintain temperature requirements can lead to degraded sample quality and inaccuracies in sample analysis. We performed a systematic analysis on different types of transport coolers (polystyrene foam, injection-molded, and rotational molded) and transport coolants (ice, cold packs, frozen water bottles) frequently in use in many countries.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFObjective: To evaluate rabies virus (RABV) characterization data obtained from animal specimens submitted to the US public health rabies surveillance system and propose a standardized approach to sample selection for RABV characterization that could enhance early detection of important rabies epizootic events in the United States.
Sample: United States public health rabies surveillance system data collected from January 1, 2010, through December 31, 2015.
Procedures: Data were reviewed to identify RABV-positive specimens for which virus characterization would likely provide information regarding any of 4 overarching events (discovery of novel variants, translocation of RABV variants, host-shift events, and any unusual rabies-related event) that could substantially alter animal rabies epizootiology in the United States.
Article Synopsis
- Monkeypox virus (MPXV) is a zoonotic virus from Africa that was introduced to the U.S. in 2003 via infected prairie dogs, leading to 37 human cases.
- Researchers used a recombinant MPXV with a firefly luciferase gene to track how the virus spreads in prairie dogs through real-time imaging.
- The study showed that MPXV can be seen in various organs by day 6 post-infection, with visible skin lesions by day 9, helping to improve understanding of the virus and reduce the number of animals needed for future research.
Many broadly neutralizing antibodies (bnAbs) bind to conserved areas of the hemagglutinin (HA) stalk region and can inhibit the low pH induced HA conformational changes necessary for viral membrane fusion activity. We developed and evaluated a high-throughput virus-free and cell-free ELISA based low pH induced HA Conformational Change Inhibition Antibody Detection Assay (HCCIA) and a complementary proteinase susceptibility assay. Human serum samples (n = 150) were tested by HCCIA using H3 recombinant HA.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFBackground: Detections of influenza A subtype-specific antibody responses are often complicated by the presence of cross-reactive antibodies. We developed two novel multiplex platforms for antibody detection. The multiplexed magnetic fluorescence microsphere immunoassay (MAGPIX) is a high-throughput laboratory-based assay.
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