SARS-CoV-2 work in the Mühlberger lab

Members of the Mühlberger lab are highly experienced in working with emerging infectious viruses, including Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and SARS-coronavirus. We have been using our expertise in virology to work on SARS-CoV-2. We have been doing this jointly with investigators from other research areas to develop innovative countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2. Collaborative efforts have been set up with research labs at BU, BMC, HMS, MIT, UMass Worcester, and UConn. This work has been supported by MassCPR, Fast Grants, and CTSI. Thank you!

What has been our focus?

We started to work on SARS-CoV-2 in March 2020 and did what we do best  – infect cells with nasty viruses. Our infection platforms can be used by other researchers for their specific assays with the goal to find countermeasures against SARS-CoV-2. Applications by our collaborators include  the use of iPSC-derived human cells as infection platforms for SARS-CoV-2, proteomics and transcriptomics studies, profiling immune response signatures, repurposing  approved therapeutics to inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection, inactivation studies, and fluid dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 containing droplets.

SARS-C0V-2 papers (Mühlberger lab members highlighted in blue)

  1. Jalloh, S.*, Olejnik, J.*, Berrigan, J., Nisa, A., Suder, E. L., Akiyama, H., Lei, M., Tyagi, S., Bushkin, Y., Mühlberger, E.#, Gummuluru, S.# CD169-mediated restrictive SARS-CoV-2 infection of macrophages induces pro-inflammatory response. PlosPathogens, 2022. 18(10):e1010479. PMID 36279285. *equal contribution; #equal contribution.
  2. Amraei, R., Xia, C., Olejnik, J., White, M. R., Napoleon, M., Lotfollahzadeh, S., Hauser, B., Schmidt. A. G., Chitalia, V. C., Mühlberger E., Costello, C. E., Rahimi, N. Extracellular Vimentin is an attachment factor that facilitates SARS-CoV-2 entry into human endothelial cells. PNAS, 2022. 119(6):e2113874119. PMID: 35078919.
  3. Leon, J., Michelson, D. A., Olejnik, J., Chowdhary, K., Oh, H. S., Hume, A. J., Galvan-Pena, S., Zhu, Y., Chen, F., Vijaykumar, B., Yang, L., Yonker, L. M., Knipe, D. M., Mühlberger E., Benoist, C. A virus-specific monocyte inflammatory phenotype is induced by SARS-CoV2 at the immune-epithelial interface. PNAS, 2022. 119(1):e2116853118. PMID 34969849.
  4. String, G. M., Kamal, Y. T. White, M. R., Gute, D. M., Mühlberger, E., Lantagne, D. S. Support for recommendations of precleaning before disinfection: Limited efficacy of soapy water as a disinfectant against SARS-CoV-2.  J. Environ. Eng. 2022, 148 (11): 06022003.
  5. Klouda, T., Hao, Y., Kim, J., Olejnik, J., Hume, A. J., Ayyappan, S., Hong, X., Melero-Martin, J., Fang, Y., Wang, Q., Zhou, X., Mühlberger, E., Jia, H., Padera Jr, R. F., Raby, B. A., Yuan, K. Interferon-alpha or -beta facilitates SARS-CoV-2 pulmonary vascular infection by inducing ACE2. Angiogenesis, 2021. 25(2): 225-240. PMID: 34714440.
  6. Wang, R.*#, Hume, A. J.*, Beermann, M. L., Simone-Roach,, C., Lindstrom-Vautrin,, J., Le Suer, J., Huang, J., Olejnik, J., Villacorta-Martin, C., Bullitt, E., Hinds, A., Ghaedi, M., Rollins, S., Werder, R. B., Abo, K. M., Wilson, A. A., Mühlberger, E.#, Kotton, D. N.#, Hawkins, F. J.# Human airway lineages derived from pluripotent stem cells reveal the epithelial responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection.  Am J Physiol Lung Cell Mol Physiol, 2022. 322(3):L462-L478. PMID: 35020534. *equal contribution; #corresponding authors.
  7. String G. M., White M. R., Gute D. M., Mühlberger E., Lantagne D. S. Selection of a SARS-CoV-2 Surrogate for Use in Surface Disinfection Efficacy Studies with Chlorine and Antimicrobial Surfaces. Environ Sci Technol Lett., 2021. acs.estlett.1c00593. published online. PMCID: PMC8491555.
  8. Amraie, R., Yin, W., Napoleon, M.A., Suder, E., Berrigan, J., Zhao, G., Olejnik, J., Chandler, K., Xia, C., Feldman, J., Hauser, B., Caradonna, T., Schmidt, A., Gummuluru, S., Mühlberger, E., Chitalia, V., Costello, C., and Rahimi, N., 2021. CD209L/L-SIGN and CD209/DC-SIGN act as receptors for SARS-CoV-2. ACS Central Science, 2021. 7(7):1156-1165. PMID 34341769.
  9. Mithal, A.*, Hume, A. J.*, Lindstrom-Vautrin, J., Villacorta-Martin, C., Olejnik, J., Bullitt, E., Hinds, A., Mühlberger, E.#, and Mostoslavsky, G.# Human pluripotent stem cell derived intestinal organoids model SARS-CoV-2 infection revealing a common epithelial inflammatory response. Stem Cell Reports, 2021. 16(4): 940-953. PMID: 33852884. *equal contribution; #corresponding authors.
  10. Huang, J.*, Hume, A. J.*, Abo, K. M.*, Werder, R. B.*, Villacorta-Martin, C., Alysandratos K.-D., Beermann, M. L., Simone-Roach, C., Olejnik, J., Suder, E. L., Bullitt, E., Hinds, A., Sharma, A., Bosmann, M., Wang, R., Hawkins, F., Burks, E. J., Saeed, M., Wilson, A. A.#, Mühlberger, E.#, and Kotton, D. N.#  SARS-CoV-2 infection of pluripotent stem cell-derived human lung alveolar type 2 cells elicits a rapid epithelial-intrinsic inflammatory response. Cell Stem Cell, 2020. 27(6): 962-973.e7. PMID: 32979316. *equal contribution; #corresponding authors.
  11. Hekman, R. M.*, Hume, A. J.*, Goel R. K.*, Abo, K. M.*, Huang, J.*, Blum, B. C.*, Werder, R. B.*, Suder, E. L.*, Paul, I.*, Phanse, S., Youssef, A., Alysandratos, K. D., Padhorny, D., Ojha, S., Patten, J. J., Villacorta-Martin, C., Bolzan, D., Perea-Resa, C., Bullitt, E., Hinds, A., Tilston-Lunel, A., Varelas, X., Braunschweig, U., Kwan, J. H., McComb, M., Basu, A., Saeed, M., Perissi, V., Burks, E. J., Wolozin, B. L., Layne, M. D., Blencowe, B. J., Wuchty, S., Lyons, S. M., Kozakov, D., Cifuentes, D., Connor, J. H., Davey, R., Blower, M., Kotton, D. N.#, Wilson, A. A.#, Mühlberger, E.#, Andrew Emili, A.#  Actionable Cytopathogenic Host Responses of Human Lung Alveolar Type 2 Cells to SARS-CoV-2 Infection. Molecular Cell, 2021. 81(1): 212. PMID: 33259812. *equal contribution; #corresponding authors.
  12. Luban J.*, Sattler R.*, Mühlberger E.*, Graci JD, Cao L, Weetall M, Trotta C, Colacino JM, Bavari S, Strambio-De-Castillia C, Suder EL, Wang Y, Soloveva V, Cintron-Lue K, Naryshkin NA, Pykett M, Welch EM, O’Keefe K, Kong R, Goodwin E, Jacobson A, Paessler S, Peltz S. 2020. The DHODH Inhibitor PTC299 Arrests SARS-CoV-2 Replication and Suppresses Induction of Inflammatory Cytokines.Virus Res, 2020. N292: 198246. PMID: 33249060. *equal contribution.

Manuscripts posted on BioRxiv

 Miorin L., Mire C. E., Ranjbar S., Hume A. J., Huang J., Crossland N. A., White K. M., Laporte M., Kehrer T., Haridas V., Moreno E., Nambu A., Jangra S., Cupic A., Dejosez M., Abo K. A., Tseng A. E., Werder R. B., Rathnasinghe R., Mutetwa T., Ramos I., de Aja J. S., de Alba Rivas C. G., Schotsaert M., Corley R. B., Falvo J. V., Fernandez-Sesma A., Kim C., Rossignol J. F., Wilson A. A., Zwaka T., Kotton D. N., Mühlberger E., García-Sastre A., Goldfeld A. E. The oral drug nitazoxanide restricts SARS-CoV-2 infection and attenuates disease pathogenesis in Syrian hamsters. bioRxiv. 2022 Feb 9:2022.02.08.479634. doi: 10.1101/2022.02.08.479634. Preprint. PMID: 35169796.

Ding J., Lugo-Martinez J., Yuan Y., Huang J., Hume A. J., Suder E. L., Mühlberger E., Kotton D. N., Bar-Joseph Z. Reconstructed signaling and regulatory networks identify potential drugs for SARS-CoV-2 infection. bioRxiv. 2021 Dec 9:2020.06.01.127589. doi: 10.1101/2020.06.01.127589. Preprint. PMID: 33083801.

Gao C., Zeng J., Jia N., Stavenhagen K., Matsumoto Y., Zhang H., Li J., Hume A. J., Mühlberger E., van Die I., Kwan J., Tantisira K., Emili A., Cummings R. D. SARS-CoV-2 Spike Protein Interacts with Multiple Innate Immune Receptors. bioRxiv. 2020 Jul 30:2020.07.29.227462. Preprint. PMID: 32766577.