Viral respiratory diseases are a leading cause of global morbidity and mortality. Seasonal respiratory viruses such as respiratory syncytial viruses (RSV), seasonal influenza viruses, common coronaviruses, parainfluenza viruses, and others cause significant morbidity, hospitalization, and mortality each year, particularly in at-risk populations. Emerging and zoonotic pathogens such as influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2 threaten and may result in pandemics with significant morbidity, mortality, socioeconomic, and societal consequences. Other emerging and re-emerging viral pathogens, such as Hantavirus, West Nile virus, Ebola virus and others cause regional outbreaks that threaten global health. Investigators in the Center for Vaccines & Immunology are in the forefront of studies to understand the ecology of many of these viruses as well as leading efforts to develop and improve vaccines, antiviral drugs, therapies and other interventions. The CVI is home to one of six federally funded Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR) which studies the natural history, transmission and pathogenesis of influenza viruses and supports influenza risk assessment and outbreak response. Other programs involve development of novel antiviral drugs and improved vaccines against viral respiratory diseases.
Participating Faculty and Labs
Justin Bahl, PhD, Professor, Epidemiology & Biostatistics, Infectious Diseases, Institute of Bioinformatics, Center for Applied Pathogen Epidemiology & Outbreak Response, Center for the Ecology of Infectious Diseases
Molecular epidemiology | Infectious disease dynamics | Viral evolution and phylodynamics | Disease ecology
Geert-Jan Boons, PhD, UGA Distinguished Professor in Biochemical Sciences
Virus-glycan interactions | Microarray technology | Biophysics
Melinda Brindley, PhD, Associate Professor, Director of Graduate Studies in Infectious Diseases
Host-pathogen interactions | Entry of emerging viral diseases | Recombinant viruses
Olivia Ginn, PhD, Assistant Professor of Engineering
Pathogen dynamics in air and water | Public health | Microbiology | Environmental science | Antimicrobial resistance | Digital PCR | Metagenomics | Computational modeling
Andreas Handel, PhD, UGA Foundation Professor in Public Health, Associate Department Head of Epidemiology & Biostatistics
Data analytics | Statistical inference | Computational modeling of infectious diseases
Biao He, PhD, Professor of Infectious Diseases, Fred C. Davison Distinguished University Chair in Veterinary Medicine, GRA Distinguished Investigator
Immunology | Animal models of human disease | Cell culture | Disease pathogenesis | Vaccinology | Virology
R. Jeff Hogan, PhD, Professor in Biomedical Sciences and Infectious Diseases
Host responses to respiratory pathogen infection | Emerging viruses and bacteria | Vaccine-elicited immunity | Therapeutic development for viruses and bacteria
Lok Raj Joshi, PhD, Assistant Professor, Core faculty Precision One Health Initiative
Virus pathogenesis | Vectored and mRNA vaccine development | Next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics | Antibody delivery systems and gene therapy | Diagnostic assay development | Emerging zoonotic virus preparedness
Kim Klonowski, PhD, Associate Professor in Cellular Biology
Host response to respiratory viral infection | Development of immunological memory | Tissue-specific immunity | T cell immunity across the lifespan
Nathan E. Lewis, PhD, Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Center for Molecular Medicine and Complex Carbohydrate Research Center
Design and optimization of vaccine glycoproteins | Vaccine manufacturing | Systems biology | Cell-cell communication in immunology
Daniel Perez, PhD, Georgia Research Alliance Distinguished Investigator and Caswell S. Eidson Chair in Poultry Medicine, Department of Population Health
Host-virus protein interactions | Avian and mammalian animal models of influenza | Transgenic poultry resistant to influenza | Emerging influenza viruses risk assessment | Antiviral development | Development of methods to study respiratory infections via aerosols
Balazs Rada, PhD, Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases
Bacteriology | Animal models of human disease | Cell culture | Disease modeling | Disease pathogenesis | Disease physiology | Immunology | Infectious Diseases | Microbiology | Mycobacterial diseases | Pathogenesis
Dani Rajao, PhD, Associate Professor of Population Health, Poultry Diagnostic Research Center
Zoonotic viral diseases | Virology | Pathogenesis | Animal models for influenza research
Pej Rohani, PhD, UGA Athletic Association Professor in Ecology and Infectious Diseases, Regent’s Professor, Deputy Director of Center for Influenza Disease & Emergence Research
Population ecology | Disease ecology | Modeling
S. Mark Tompkins, PhD, UGA Athletic Association Distinguished Professor in Virology and Immunology, Director of the Center for Vaccines & Immunology
Host response to respiratory pathogen infection | Pathogen-pathogen interactions | Emerging viruses and risk assessment | Vaccine-elicited immunity
