![Investigating Ebola Infection]()
Viruses must infect host cells so they can replicate. Ebola virus and other filoviruses, which cause fatal hemorrhagic fever in humans, have evolved a highly complex infection and replication process. Kartik Chandran, Ph.D., has already described the key steps, in which filoviruses bind to the host cell’s outer membrane, are taken up by lysosomes (intracellular bags filled with enzymes) and then multiply by propelling their RNA genetic material through the lysosome and into the cell’s cytoplasm. He was recently awarded a four-year, $1.9 million grant from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases to conduct further filovirus research. His group aims to define the molecular mechanism by which filoviruses bind to host cells and to find new host factors that could be targeted to prevent filoviruses from infecting cells and multiplying inside them. Dr. Chandran is professor of microbiology & immunology and the Harold and Muriel Block Faculty Scholar in Virology. (1R01AI134824-01)
Posted on: Wednesday, January 31, 2018