FDA Research Opportunity in Pathogenesis of Hepatitis
*Applications will be reviewed on a rolling-basis.
A research opportunity is currently available with the Office of Blood Research and Review (OBRR), at the Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research (CBER), Food and Drug Administration (FDA) located in Silver Spring, Maryland.
Hepatitis A virus (HAV) causes acute hepatitis in humans. HAV is transmitted via the fecal-oral route, and infection is mainly due to ingestion of contaminated food and water or close contact with an infected individual. The current HAV outbreak that started in 2016 in the US resulted in 32,235 cases, 19,694 hospitalizations, and 324 deaths as of April 17, 2020 (https://www.cdc.gov/hepatitis/outbreaks/2017March-HepatitisA.htm). Parenteral transmission of HAV can also occur by blood and blood products, which poses a significant risk to the safety of the blood supply. HAV infects cells via its cellular receptor 1 (HAVCR1), which has also been shown to be a cell entry factor for some enveloped viruses such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Ebola virus. We are interested in studying pathogenesis of HAV and the role of HAVCR1 in hepatitis.
Under the guidance of a mentor, the participant will train in classical virology, immunology, and molecular biology by characterizing HAV infection in plasma samples from infected individuals from the current US outbreak to understand markers of HAV infection. The goal of the study is to advance our current understanding of HAV pathogenesis, severity of disease, and protection using state-of-the art technologies to characterize viral load, liver enzyme elevations, cytokine storm, and role of per-existing antibodies in sterilizing immunity. The participant will also study the role of HAVCR1 alleles in severity of disease using molecular biology techniques and animal models.
Some recent publications describing work performed in the laboratory that the participant will expand include: Costafreda et al., Nature Microbiology 2020 (DOI:10.1038/s41564-020-0740-y); Kaplan et al., Nature Microbiology community 2020 (https://naturemicrobiologycommunity.nature.com/posts/viral-infection-by-exosome-mimicry-the-havcr1-npc1-pathway?channel_id=346-behind-the-paper); Costafreda et al., Journal of Virology 2018 (DOI:10.1128/JVI.02065-17); and Tejada-Strop et al., JAMA Internal Medicine 2017 (10.1001/jamainternmed.2016.9057).
If you have questions, send an email to ORISE.FDA.CBER@orau.org. Please include the reference code for this opportunity (FDA-CBER-2021-0004) in your email.