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Naomi Forrester, Ph.D.

Naomi Lynne Forrester, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor, Department of Pathology;
Member, Sealy Center for Vaccine Development

University of Texas Medical Branch
301 University Blvd,
Galveston, TX 77555-0610

Office: (409) 266-6927
Fax: (409) 747-2429
naforres@utmb.edu

Professional Education

Degree Institution Field of Study Graduation Year
B.A. (Oxon) Worchester College, Oxford University, Oxford, UK Biological Sciences 2000
Ph.D. University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK Ecology of Infectious Diseases 2005
Post-doctoral University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX Virology 2010

Honors

2005 First prize at the Annual CEH Oxford Student Presentations
2008 Travel Scholarship to the Keystone Symposia, Molecular Evolution as a Driving Force in Infectious Disease
2010 James W. McLaughlin Symposium Travel Award Recipient

Professional Affiliations

2007-Present Member of the American Society for Virology
2010-Present Member of the Society for General Microbiology

Research Interests

  • Basic research on evolution and pathogenesis of arthropod-borne viruses, virus – mosquito, virus – host interactions and vaccine development
  • Role of intra-host variation in the transmission and maintenance of viruses in endemic cycles
  • Analyzing the arbovirus transmission cycle to determine the number of bottlenecks present during virus infection and transmission using appropriate rodent models and mosquito vectors
  • Comparative pathogenesis of Mayaro and Una viruses
  • Novel virus discovery using deep sequencing technologies

Selected Publications

  1. Deardorff ER, Forrester NL, Travassos da Rosa AP, Estrada-Franco JG, Navarro-Lopez R, Tesh RB, Weaver SC (2010). Experimental infections of Oryzomys couesi with sympatric arboviruses from Mexico. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 82:350-3.  PMID: 20134016;   PMCID:PMC2813180.
  2. Forrester NL, Boag B, Buckley A, Moureau G, Gould EA. (2009) Co-circulation of widely disparate strains of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus could explain localized epidemicity in the United Kingdom. Virology. 393:42-8.  PMID: 19692104.
  3. Malet H, Coutard B, Jamal S, Dutartre H, Papageorgiou N, Neuvonen M, Ahola T, Forrester N, Gould EA, Lafitte D, Ferron F, Lescar J, Gorbalenya AE, de Lamballerie X, Canard B (2009). The crystal structures of Chikungunya and Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus nsP3 macro domains define a conserved adenosine binding pocket. J Virol. 83:6534-45. PMID:19386706;   PMCID: PMC2698539.
  4. Deardorff ER, Forrester NL, Travassos-da-Rosa AP, Estrada-Franco JG, Navarro-Lopez R, Tesh RB, Weaver SC (2009). Experimental infection of potential reservoir hosts with Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus, Mexico. Emerg Infect Dis. 15:519-25.  PMID:19331726;   PMCID:PMC2671456.
  5. McBride MP, Sims MA, Cooper RW, Nyaoke AC, Cullion C, Kiupel M, Frasca S Jr, Forrester N, Weaver SC, Weber ES (2008). Eastern equine encephalitis in a captive harbor seal (Phoca vitulina). J Zoo Wildl Med. 39:631-7.  PMID:19110708.
  6. Forrester NL, Kenney JL, Deardorff E, Wang E, Weaver SC (2008). Western Equine Encephalitis submergence: lack of evidence for a decline in virus virulence. Virology. 380:170-2. PMID: 18801549;   PMCID: PMC2574696.
  7. Wang E, Volkova E, Adams AP, Forrester N, Xiao SY, Frolov I, Weaver SC (2008). Chimeric alphavirus vaccine candidates for chikungunya. Vaccine. 26:5030-9. PMID: 18692107; PMCID: PMC2571998.
  8. Volkova E, Frolova E, Darwin JR, Forrester NL, Weaver SC, Frolov I. IRES-dependent replication of Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus makes it highly attenuated and incapable of replicating in mosquito cells. Virology. 377:160-9. PMID: 18501401; PMCID: PMC2483425.
  9. Forrester NL, Moss SR, Turner SL, Schirrmeier H, Gould EA (2008). Recombination in rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus: possible impact on evolution and epidemiology. Virology 376:390-6. PMID: 18455748.
  10. Ruzek D, Gritsun TS, Forrester NL, Gould EA, Kopeck J, Golovchenko M, Rudenko N, Grubhoffer L (2008). Mutations in the NS2B and NS3 genes affect mouse neuroinvasiveness of a Western European field strain of tick-borne encephalitis virus. Virology 374:249-55. PMID:18339416.
  11. Maher-Sturgess SL, Forrester NL, Wayper PJ, Gould EA, Hall RA, Barnard RT, Gibbs MJ (2008). Universal primers that amplify RNA from all three flavivirus subgroups. Virol J. 5:16. PMID: 18218114;   PMCID: PMC2263041.
  12. Speroni S, De Colibus L, Mastrangelo E, Gould E, Coutard B, Forrester NL, Blanc S, Canard B, Mattevi A (2008). Structure and biochemical analysis of Kokobera virus helicase. Proteins. 70:1120-3.  PMID: 18004778.
  13. Abubakr MI, Abu-Elzein EM, Housawi FM, Abdelrahman AO, Fadlallah ME, Nayel MN, Adam AS, Moss S, Forrester NL, Coloyan E, Gameel A, Al-Afaleq AI, Gould EA (2007). Pseudocowpox virus: the etiological agent of contagious ecthyma (Auzdyk) in camels (Camelus dromedarius) in the Arabian peninsula. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 7:257-60. PMID: 17627446.
  14. De Colibus L, Speroni S, Coutard B, Forrester NL, Gould E, Canard B, Mattevi A (2007).  Purification and crystallization of Kokobera virus helicase. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 63:193-5. PMID: 17329812; PMCID: PMC2330173.
  15. Forrester NL, Trout RC, Gould EA (2007). Benign circulation of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus on Lambay Island, Eire. Virology. 358:18-22. PMID: 17049958.
  16. Mastrangelo E, Bollati M, Milani M, de Lamballerie X, Brisbarre N, Dalle K, Lantez V, Egloff MP, Coutard B, Canard B, Gould E, Forrester N, Bolognesi M (2006). Preliminary characterization of (nucleoside-2'-O-)-methyltransferase crystals from Meaban and Yokose flaviviruses. Acta Crystallogr Sect F Struct Biol Cryst Commun. 62:768-70. PMID: 16880552;  PMCID:PMC2242907.
  17. Forrester NL, Abubakr MI, Abu Elzein EM, Al-Afaleq AI, Housawi FM, Moss SR, Turner SL, Gould EA (2006). Phylogenetic analysis of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus strains from the Arabian Peninsula: did RHDV emerge simultaneously in Europe and Asia? Virology. 344:277-82. PMID: 16289185.
  18. White PJ, Trout RC, Moss SR, Desai A, Armesto M, Forrester NL, Gould EA, Hudson PJ (2004). Epidemiology of rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus in the United Kingdom: evidence for seasonal transmission by both virulent and avirulent modes of infection. Epidemiol Infect. 132:555-67. PMID: 15188725; PMCID: PMC2870135.
  19. Forrester NL, Boag B, Moss SR, Turner SL, Trout RC, White PJ, Hudson PJ, Gould EA (2003). Long-term survival of New Zealand rabbit haemorrhagic disease virus RNA in wild rabbits, revealed by RT-PCR and phylogenetic analysis. J Gen Virol. 84:3079-86.  PMID: 14573812.
  20. Moss SR, Turner SL, Trout RC, White PJ, Hudson PJ, Desai A, Armesto M, Forrester NL, Gould EA (2002). Molecular epidemiology of Rabbit haemorrhagic diseasevirus. J Gen Virol. 83:2461-7.  PMID: 12237428.

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