The
principle focus of Dr. Freiberg's research encompasses efforts to
understand viral pathogenesis, virus assembly, and vaccine and antiviral
drug development. One main research interest is in understanding the
molecular mechanisms by which emerging RNA viruses cause encephalitis
and hemorrhagic fever diseases. They are characterizing the host innate
immune response and activation of cellular signaling pathways of human
cells following viral infection, with a major interest on infections
caused by Nipah and Hendra viruses, as well as Rift Valley fever virus.
The goal of this project is to better understand the role that the host
cell-mediated immune response may play in development of encephalitis
and hemorrhagic fever diseases. These studies are being performed in
BSL-3E and BSL-4 containment facilities. In addition, another project
focuses on understanding the structure and assembly of high-containment
classified viruses, with a major focus on bunyaviruses using
cryo-electron microscopy and biophysical techniques. They have
determined the three-dimensional structure of Rift Valley fever virus,
and are analyzing the arrangement and interaction of the two viral
glycoproteins within the virus particle. This information can be
utilized to develop structure-based vaccines and antivirals. In
collaboration with partners in academia and in biotechnology, they are
also working on the identification and characterization of broad
spectrum antivirals and on testing novel vaccine platforms against
Filo-, Bunya-, Henipa-, Arena- and Flaviviruses.
Search PubMed for Dr. Freiberg's publications