Shijun Zhan

This paper isolates and characterizes a novel Tacaribe virus (TCRV) strain from Jamaican fruit bats, showing it causes nonfatal infection with mild liver disease and limited immune response, offering a better model for studying arenavirus biology than previously used strains.

The paper identifies key regulatory elements in bat limb development by comparing bat and mouse genomic datasets and swapping enhancer sequences to observe phenotypic changes.

This study shows that low cadmium exposure alters B and T cell gene expression in Jamaican fruit bats, suggesting immune system changes, but not affecting viral replication in kidney cells.

The paper generates a bat genome and germline immunoglobulin loci to study B cell receptors, finding unique features and differences compared to humans.