Program Description
A genotype 3 strain of hepatitis E virus has been adapted to grow in cell cultures of human and swine cells and an infectious cDNA clone has been constructed. Chimeric genomes and genomes with point mutations are being constructed to analyze the virus replication cycle and to determine factors affecting host range.
Biography
Dr. Emerson obtained her doctorate from the University of California, San Diego, for the study of assembly of bacterial flagella. Following postdoctoral research at the University of Virginia Medical School, she joined the faculty of the Department of Microbiology where she carried out molecular studies on vesicular stomatitis virus. She joined the Hepatitis Viruses Section of the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in 1988, and in 1998, she became head of the newly created Molecular Hepatitis Section. Her research has focused on basic molecular studies of the hepatitis viruses A, E, and C and on the development of vaccines for these viruses.
Selected Publications
Shukla P, Nguyen HT, Faulk K, Mather K, Torian U, Engle RE, Emerson SU. Adaptation of a genotype 3 hepatitis E virus to efficient growth in cell culture depends on an inserted human gene segment acquired by recombination. J Virol. 2012 May;86(10):5697-707.
Purcell RH, Engle RE, Rood MP, Kabrane-Lazizi Y, Nguyen HT, Govindarajan S, St Claire M, Emerson SU. Hepatitis E virus in rats, Los Angeles, California, USA. Emerg Infect Dis. 2011 Dec;17(12):2216-22.
Nguyen HT, Torian U, Faulk K, Mather K, Engle RE, Thompson E, Bonkovsky HL, Emerson SU. A naturally occurring human/hepatitis E recombinant virus predominates in serum but not in faeces of a chronic hepatitis E patient and has a growth advantage in cell culture. J Gen Virol. 2012 Mar;93(Pt 3):526-30.
Parvez MK, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. Hepatitis E virus ORF2 protein over-expressed by baculovirus in hepatoma cells, efficiently encapsidates and transmits the viral RNA to naïve cells. Virol J. 2011 Apr 8;8:159.
Kawaguchi K, Faulk K, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. Reproduction in vitro of a quasispecies from a hepatitis C virus-infected patient and determination of factors that influence selection of a dominant species. J Virol. 2011 Apr;85(7):3408-14.
Shukla P, Nguyen HT, Torian U, Engle RE, Faulk K, Dalton HR, Bendall RP, Keane FE, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. Cross-species infections of cultured cells by hepatitis E virus and discovery of an infectious virus-host recombinant. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2011 Feb 8;108(6):2438-43.
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Patents
Chen Z, Purcell RH, Emerson SU, Leppla SH, Moayeri M, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Monoclonal antibodies that neutralize anthrax toxins. United States patent US 8,071,100. 6 Dec 2011.
Chen Z, Earl P, Moss B, Emerson SU, Purcell RH, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Monoclonal antibodies against orthopoxviruses. United States patent US 7,914,788. 29 Mar 2011.
Yanagi M, Bukh J, Emerson SU, Purcell RH, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Clones genomes of infectious hepatitis C viruses and uses thereof. United States patent US 7,846,454. 7 Dec 2010.
Bukh J, Purcell RH, Emerson SU, Sakai A, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Cloned genome of infectious hepatitis C virus strain HC-TN and uses thereof. United States patent US 7,678,569. 16 Mar 2010.
Schofield DJ, Emerson SU, Purcell R II, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Anti-hepatitis a antibodies. United States patent US 7,635,476. 22 Dec 2009.
Schofield DJ, Emerson SU, Purcell RH, inventors; The United States of America as represented by the Department of Health and Human Services, assignee. Major neutralization site of hepatitis E virus and use of this neutralization site in methods of vaccination and in methods of screening for neutralizing antibodies to hepatitis E virus. United States patent US 7,148,323. 12 Dec 2006.
Visit the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office for a complete patent listing.