Shreveport, La. – Just months after a deadly Andes hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship captured international attention, researchers at LSU Health Shreveport are helping to answer one of the biggest remaining questions about how the virus infects people. In a new study published in Nature, scientists at LSU Health Shreveport alongside collaborators from Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY and Institut Pasteur, Paris, show how the virus recognizes its target on a human cell, a finding that could lead to effective therapies against Andes virus and other hantaviruses.
The publication features significant contributions from LSU Health Shreveport researchers including co-first author Ramandeep Kaur, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbiology and Immunology; Rohit K. Jangra, PhD, Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology; Lohit Khera, PhD, a former Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbiology and Immunology; Upendra P. Lambe, PhD, Postdoctoral Fellow in Microbiology and Immunology; Jian Wang, PhD, Assistant Core Director of the Bioinformatics and Modeling Core within the Center for Applied Immunology and Pathological Processes (CAIPP); and Rona S. Scott, PhD, Core Director of the CAIPP Bioinformatics and Modeling Core.
The hantavirus outbreak aboard a cruise ship sickened passengers and claimed lives, reminding the world that these rare but deadly viruses remain a serious public health threat. While hantavirus infections are uncommon, severe cases can be fatal and there are currently no approved therapies specifically designed to treat them…