Respiratory Viruses-host Interactions

Research Summary

Our research is focused on studying the effect of viral and host factors on the induction of innate immune responses, the replication and the pathogenesis of respiratory viruses, including influenza and coronaviruses. Our final goal is to use the knowledge generated in our research to assess personalized risk for severe disease after viral infections and to develop new strategies to combat the diseases caused viral infections.

Research Lines

Influenza viruses and coronaviruses are respiratory pathogens with drastic health and economic consequences for many animal species, including humans. Seasonal Influenza viruses produce severe infections in 3-5 million people and around 500.000 deaths annually. In addition, sporadically these viruses produce pandemics of unpredictable consequences.  On the other hand, coronaviruses produce 10 to 30% of common colds in humans and more severe infections, such as the pandemic we are suffering now caused by Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2).

In our group we are interested in analyzing virus host-interactions, particularly the innate immune responses induced after respiratory virus infections, since these host responses affect viral replication and pathogenesis.  Our final goal is to use the knowledge generated in our research to develop new antivirals to fight these and other viral infections, and to analyze viral and host genetic factors affecting the severity of respiratory virus diseases.

As such we are aiming at

(i) studying the cellular functions of interferon-stimulated genes and the effect of these genes on virus replication, on the induction of innate immune responses and virus pathogenesis,

(ii) studying the functional effects of mutations on influenza virulence genes on virus replication, and pathogenesis,

(iii) evaluating the effect of genetic polymorphisms on innate immune response genes in the severity of the diseases induced by influenza and coronaviruses, and

(iv) developing antivirals mainly targeting innate immune response proteins and viral proteins.

Group Members

Funding

Our research is funded by national and international institutions as indicated below. For more details, please check the general Funding Section at the CNB website.

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