Paul S. Soma

Pathogenesis and host response to a novel Tacaribe virus isolate in experimentally-infected Jamaican fruit bats

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.

Disruption of riboflavin biosynthesis in mycobacteria establishes 5-amino-6-D-ribitylaminouracil (5-A-RU) as key precursor of MAIT cell agonists

Deleting early riboflavin genes (ribA2 in both species, ribG in M. smegmatis) sharply reduced MAIT cell activation, while ribH deletion raised recognition of M. tuberculosis only.

Perturbed pediatric serum metabolome in mild and severe dengue disease

The paper identifies a metabolic biomarker panel that distinguishes dengue fever from severe dengue forms and provides insights into disease pathology.