Lee Gehrke

This study develops a human BBB model using NCC-PCs to show they protect against viral neuroinvasion by maintaining BMEC barrier integrity.

The paper shows healthy adipocytes protect neighboring cells from viral infection through STING-dependent interferon-alpha secretion, and metabolic dysfunction reduces this antiviral activity.

This study compares pathogenesis of ancestral and contemporary Zika viruses in human cerebral organoids, finding differential signaling responses and identifying ROS imbalance as a key driver, which is mitigated by Trolox.

SARS-CoV-2 5' UTR stem-loop 1 (SL1) lets reporters escape Nsp1 translational shutdown. LNA antisense oligos against SL1 restore Nsp1 suppression and reduce infected Vero E6 cells.

The paper introduces CATCH, a method for designing compact and scalable probe sets to enhance metagenomic sequencing sensitivity, demonstrating improved viral genome recovery and diversity preservation.

This study shows that ZIKV infects neural progenitors, astrocytes, and microglia-like cells, with microglia acting as viral reservoirs and facilitating infection of the fetal brain.

This study sequenced 110 Zika virus genomes from 10 countries, revealing rapid expansion in Brazil, multiple introductions into other regions, and undetected circulation before confirmed cases.