Congratulations Dr. Huang! New Grant to Support Lassa Research
Dr. Cheng Huang, an Associate Professor in the Department of Pathology at the University of Texas Medical Branch, has been awarded a five-year RO1 grant from the National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases (NIAID) in the amount of $2,518,312.
His research project is titled "New role of NP Exoribonuclease in Lassa virus infection." The work will take place in the Galveston National Lab, one of only a few facilities in the country with the BSL4 containment facilities that allow for research on dangerous infectious agents to be safely conducted.
The project is focused on understanding the roles of NP ExoN (nucleoprotein exonuclease) and RdRp (RNA-dependent RNA polymerase) in the life cycle and pathogenesis of Lassa virus (LASV).
RNA viruses often make mistakes when copying their RNA because the enzyme they use, RdRp, does not have "proofreading"activity. Uncontrolled RNA errors may reduce a virus’s ability to infect or cause diseases. How LASV, a negative-strand RNA virus, controls RNA error is not understood. LASV nucleoprotein (NP) exonuclease (ExoN) activity has been known to blunt host immune response. The project, which is built on the findings of Dr. Huang’s previous NIH R21 grant, will study a novel function of LASV NP ExoN in ensuring LASV accurate RNA replication. The team will study how abrogating the ExoN enzyme activity affects virus infection in cultured cells and animal models.
The study is significant as it addresses an important knowledge gap in how negative-strand RNA viruses maintain replication accuracy, which may advance our understanding of their ability to cause disease.
Dr. Huang says that his team is hopeful that their work will lead to a novel approach for the development of treatments and vaccines for Lassa fever, as well as other diseases caused by pathogenic arenaviruses. His co-investigators on the project include Dr. Junki Maruyama and Dr. Slobodan Paessler from UTMB, and Dr. Carolina Lopez from Washington University.
In addition to his work with Lassa, his lab also studies the innate immune response to other human pathogenic arenaviruses, including Junin virus and Machupo virus. Based on the virulence determinants of arenaviruses, Dr. Huang and team utilize reverse genetics systems to design and develop vaccine candidates. by utilizing the reverse genetics systems for arenaviruses
Dr. Huang received the UTMB James W. McLaughlin Postdoctoral Fellowship that funded his postdoctoral research at UTMB from 2004 - 2006. He received his PhD in Virology from Hiroshima University in 2000, and his Bachelor of Science degree in Genetics and Genetic Engineering from FUDAN University in Shanghai, China, in 1990. He is a member of the American Society for Virology.