Webinar: H5N1

Position: Professor of Vaccinology at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

Research Fields:

He received his advanced training in biotechnology and applied virology at the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna (Mentor: Dr. Reingard Grabherr), where he gained extensive experience with expression and purification of recombinant (glyco-) proteins and influenza virus-like particles. He established various expression systems for these proteins using insect cells/baculovirus, mammalian cells, bacteria, yeast and plants. Furthermore, he worked on a novel influenza virus rescue system based on baculovirus transduction of mammalian cells and a novel bioassay to measure inhibition of the influenza virus polymerase complex by cap-snatching inhibitors. He graduated from the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna in 2010.

Prof. Krammer’s post-doctoral work in the laboratory of Dr. Peter Palese at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York focused on the development of broadly neutralizing anti-hemagglutinin stalk antibodies and the design of an universal influenza virus vaccine. The results of these studies have been very promising: After successful testing in animal models (mice, ferrets), studies with this universal influenza virus vaccine are now advancing to human clinical trials.

Currently Prof. Krammer holds a position as a Professor of Vaccinology at the Department of Microbiology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. He has published more than 100 papers, is member of the editorial boards of the Journal of Virology, Plos One and Heliyon and is a peer reviewer for more than 30 journals. Dr. Krammer is also member of the Vaccine and Edward Jenner Society Young Investigator Program. In addition he is a scientific adviser for enGenes and PathSensors.

Since 2019, Prof. Krammer is the Principal Investigator of the Sinai-Emory Multi-Institutional Collaborative Influenza Vaccine Innovation Center (SEM-CIVIC). Our CIVIC aims to develop improved seasonal and universal influenza virus vaccines that induce long lasting protection against drifted seasonal, zoonotic and future pandemic influenza viruses.

The Krammer laboratory – which is also part of the NIH-funded Centers for Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) – focuses on understanding broadly-reactive immune responses against the surface glycoproteins of RNA viruses such as influenza with the goal to develop better vaccines and novel therapeutics.

Accomplishments:

2019: Endowed Professor of Vaccinology, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai

2014-2017: Member of the Vaccine and Edward Jenner Vaccine Society Young Investigator Program (YIP)

2014: ESWI Young Scientist Travel Award and ‘Young Scientist Co-Chair’

2013: Options for the Control of Influenza VIII Promising Investigator Scholarship

2013: American Society for Virology 32nd Annual Meeting Postdoctoral Travel Award

2012: Centers of Excellence in Influenza Research and Surveillance (CEIRS) Training Grant

2011: Erwin Schrödinger Fellowship (Austrian Science Fund/FWF)

2010: INiTS – Innovation into Business Award, First Prize in the category Life Science, Vienna, Austria

https://labs.icahn.mssm.edu/krammerlab/dr-krammer/

Richard Webby is a Member of the Department of Infectious Diseases at St Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Director of the World Health Organization Collaborating Center for Studies on the Ecology of Influenza in Animals. He has a research program, funded by ALSAC, the fundraising arm of St Jude, and the US National Institutes of Health, that focuses on influenza viruses at the human-animal interface. This work involves virologic and serologic surveillance activities in animal and human populations to determine the prevalence of influenza viruses present.

Further laboratory-based research sets out to understand the mechanisms behind various viral phenotypes. His expertise is in influenza virology and he has substantial experience in vivo and in vitro models of influenza virus replication, pathogenicity, and transmission. Data collected through the above activities feeds into the WHO GISRS system for risk assessment of circulating influenza viruses and, where appropriate, subsequent pandemic preparedness activities such as candidate vaccine virus production and distribution.

Seema Lakdawala is an Associate Professor in the Microbiology and Immunology Department at the Emory School of Medicine. Her lab studies epidemiological success of influenza A viruses to better predict future pandemics. Specifically, Lakdawala Lab is interested in intracellular assembly of influenza viruses and person-to-person transmission of viruses. They combine biochemistry and sophisticated microscopy tools to define where, when and how assembly of influenza genomic RNA occurs. This research has broad implications for understanding the reassortment potential of circulating animal influenza viruses and may lead to the development of new antiviral targets. 

In addition, airborne transmission of influenza viruses is critical for rapid spread of the virus during epidemics and pandemics. They have established a method to study the viability of influenza viruses in expelled aerosols and droplets at different environmental conditions, as well as the airborne transmissibility of influenza viruses in the ferret model. These studies will define the viral and environmental properties that promote the spread of influenza. Combining these two areas of research, they will be able to develop a comprehensive surveillance system to determine the pandemic potential of circulating zoonotic influenza viruses, which will be useful in all areas of pandemic preparedness.