Suzanne U. Emerson, Ph.D.

Chief, Molecular Hepatitis Section
Senior Investigator

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 focuses on basic molecular studies of the hepatitis viruses A, E, and C and on the development of vaccines for these viruses.

Description of Research Program

The molecular biology of hepatitis A virus is being studied by constructing chimeric viruses from infectious cDNA clones of viruses with different phenotypes. The phenotype of each mutant is determined in cell culture, and the natural history is determined following infection or transfection of nonhuman primates. Challenge studies are performed in nonhuman primates in order to evaluate attenuated vaccine candidates.

Hepatitis E virus has not been successfully grown in cell culture, so natural history determinations and vaccine evaluations are done in nonhuman primates. An infectious cDNA is being constructed that will be used to study the molecular biology and host range of the hepatitis E virus. The hepatitis E virus circulating in wild rats in the United States is being passaged in laboratory rats. It will be characterized and its importance as a zoonosis will be evaluated. The efficacy of recombinant vaccine candidates is being assessed.

Major Areas of Research

• Vaccines for hepatitis viruses
• Molecular biology of hepatitis A virus and hepatitis E virus

Research Group Members

Jens Bukh, Patricia Farci, Xavier Forns, Judith Graff, Rajen Koshy, Yamina Lazizi, Jae-Hwan Nam, Raffaella Romeo, Darren Schofield, Tobias Allander, Mingdong Zhang, and Yohko Shimizu.

Selected Recent Publications

Graff J, Torian U, Nguyen H, Emerson SU. A bicistronic subgenomic mRNA encodes both the ORF2 and ORF3 proteins of hepatitis E virus. J Virol. 2006. 80(12): 5919-5926.

Graff J, Nguyen H, Yu C, Elkins WR, St Claire M, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. The open reading frame 3 gene of hepatitis E virus contains a cis-reactive element and encodes a protein required for infection of macaques. J Virol. 2005. 79(11): 6680-6689.

Zhou YH, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. A truncated ORF2 protein contains the most immunogenic site on ORF2: antibody responses to non-vaccine sequences following challenge of vaccinated and non-vaccinated macaques with hepatitis E virus. Vaccine. 2005. 23(24): 3157-3165.

Graff J, Nguyen H, Kasorndorkbua C, Halbur PG, St Claire M, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. In vitro and in vivo mutational analysis of the 3'-terminal regions of hepatitis e virus genomes and replicons. J Virol. 2005. 79(2): 1017-1026.

Zhou YH, Purcell RH, Emerson SU. An ELISA for putative neutralizing antibodies to hepatitis E virus detects antibodies to genotypes 1, 2, 3, and 4.Vaccine. 2004. 22(20): 2578-2585.

Emerson SU, Nguyen H, Graff J, Stephany DA, Brockington A, Purcell RH. In vitro replication of hepatitis E virus (HEV) genomes and of an HEV replicon expressing green fluorescent protein. J Virol. 2004. 78(9): 4838-4846.

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