Zoonotic transmission of infectious agents is a major cause of human morbidity
and mortality. With increased human population, environmental destruction, ease
of international travel and commerce, and break downs in the public health system,
emerging infectious diseases are becoming increasingly important. Concerns about
bioterrorism have also increased. NIH has greatly increased research support for
work on bioterrorism and emerging infectious diseases, and a large number of Penn
investigators study viral, parasitic, and bacterial pathogens that are classified
as emerging infectious diseases or are possible bioterrorism weopons. A number
of Penn investigators study smallpox or viruses that cause hemorrhagic fevers
such as Ebola and Dengue. Other topics of research include West Nile virus, Yellow
fever virus, anthrax, toxoplasma gondii, and schsitosomiasis.
| Paul Bates |
Ebola virus; hantavirus; bunyaviruses |
| Dustin Brisson |
Disease ecology; molecular evolution; microbial ecology/ evolution; host-pathogen interaction |
| Frederic Bushman |
Metagenomic viral discovery; poxviruses; flaviviruses; respiratory viruses; GI viruses |
| Sara Cherry |
West Nile Virus; Dengue Virus; Rift Valley Fever Virus; Venezuealan Equine Encephalitis virus; Poxvirus |
| Gary
Cohen |
Smallpox glycoproteins; vaccinia virus |
| Robert Doms |
Bunyavirus interactions with host cells; Andes virus; Puumala; Sin Nombre; Rift Valley Fever |
| Roselyn
Eisenberg |
Smallpox glycoproteins; vaccinia virus |
| Doron Greenbaum |
Protease function; P. falciparum (malaria); chemical biology; proteomics |
| Robert Greenberg |
Schistosoma; schistosomiasis; Platyhelminthes; ion channels; calcium channels; multidrug resistance proteins; molecular neurobiology; praziquantel |
| Beatrice Hahn |
Origins and evolution of primate lentiviruses and human Plasmodium infections |
| Ron
Harty |
Ebola virus; Marburg virus; Junin virus; Lassa Fever virus |
| Stuart
Isaacs |
Smallpox vaccine development; vaccinia virus; monkeypox |
| Mike Levy |
Disease ecology; Chagas disease; global health; medical entomology; control theory; Bayesian statistics; bed bugs |
| Irving
Nachamkin |
Campylobacter; food-borne diseases; gastrointestinal infections; Guillain-Barre syndrome |
| Robert
Ricciardi |
Smallpox and vaccinia processivity factors |
| Erle Robertson |
Karposi's Sarcoma associated herpes virus |
| David Roos |
Molecular/cellular parasitology; toxoplasma; plasmodium
(malaria); genomics |
| Susan Ross |
New world arenaviruses; Junín virus; virus/host interactions |
| Dieter Schifferli |
Yersinia pestis (the plague) |
| Hao Shen |
Immune responses and memory; vaccines; Flu/bacterial co-infection |
| David Weiner |
West Nile virus; DNA vaccines; cellular immune responses |
| Susan Weiss |
Murine coronavirus pathogenesis; organ specific virus-cell interactions; viral antagonism of the OAS-RNase L pathway; T cell response in the central nervous system |
| James Wilson |
Primate adenovirus and parvovirus; viral vectors; influenza vaccines |
| Yan
Yuan |
Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus |
| Jun (Jay) Zhu |
Quorum sensing; bacterial pathogenesis; Vibrio cholerae
and virulence gene regulation; biofilms |
