Alexander L. Greninger

Last updated

Alexander L. Greninger is assistant director of the UW Medicine Clinical Virology Laboratory and a UW assistant professor of Laboratory Medicine. His research is focused on genomic and proteomic characterization of a variety of human viruses and bacteria, with a focus on respiratory viruses and human herpesviruses.

Contents

Education

Greninger earned his M.D. and Ph.D., from UC San Francisco, his M.S. in Immunology from Stanford and his M.Phil. in Epidemiology from Cambridge in England.[ citation needed ]

Career

Greninger helped in facilitating the first SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test outside CDC or public laboratories. He was nominated to the Power List of 2020 by The Pathologist. [1] On March 2, 2020, the UW Medicine Clinical Virology Lab received federal Emergency Use Authorization to use their RT-PCR test as a diagnostic tool for UW Medicine patients. By winter of 2020, the UW Medicine Clinical Virology Lab went from three PCR machines to more than 30 high-volume machines. The lab worked with the School of Medicine to secure equipment and space. The lab had tested over 4 million nasal swabs. [2] Alongside UW Medicine's head of virology, Alex Greninger and Keith Jerome were named Innovators of the Year 2020 by the University of Washington School of Medicine for their foresight and innovation in developing one of the first tests in the country that detects COVID-19. [3] [4]

Greninger's laboratory in South Lake Union's neighborhood of Seattle, WA at the University of Washington School of Medicine focuses on understanding viruses using a wide range of techniques including next-generation sequencing, culture models and screens, and biochemical/biophysical characterization of viral gene products. [5] [6] [7] [8] [9]

Awards

Greninger was recognized at the 11th International Conference on HHV-6 & 7, for his work in the comparative, genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic re-annotation of HHV-6A/B, as well as his analysis of the heterogeneity, large origin tandem repeats and interspecies recombination in HHV-6A/B reference strains. Additionally, he uploaded over six dozen new genome sequences, expanding the publicly available sequences for HHV-6A/B. [10]

He also received the Young Investigator Award by PASCV in 2017, Churchill Scholar for study at Cambridge University in 2004, Marco Escobar Award, American Society of Microbiology in 2016, was named to American Society of Clinical Pathologists "40 under 40" in 2017, the Strandjord-Clayson Award in 2018, and was named president, Associated Students of University of California-San Francisco during his Medical Scientist Training.[ citation needed ]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pathology</span> Study of the causes and effects of disease or injury, and how they arise

Pathology is the study of disease and injury. The word pathology also refers to the study of disease in general, incorporating a wide range of biology research fields and medical practices. However, when used in the context of modern medical treatment, the term is often used in a narrower fashion to refer to processes and tests that fall within the contemporary medical field of "general pathology", an area that includes a number of distinct but inter-related medical specialties that diagnose disease, mostly through analysis of tissue and human cell samples. Idiomatically, "a pathology" may also refer to the predicted or actual progression of particular diseases, and the affix pathy is sometimes used to indicate a state of disease in cases of both physical ailment and psychological conditions. A physician practicing pathology is called a pathologist.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roseola</span> Human disease caused by human herpesviruses

Roseola, also known as sixth disease, is an infectious disease caused by certain types of human herpes viruses. Most infections occur before the age of three. Symptoms vary from absent to the classic presentation of a fever of rapid onset followed by a rash. The fever generally lasts for three to five days, while the rash is generally pink and lasts for less than three days. Complications may include febrile seizures, with serious complications being rare.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human herpesvirus 6</span> Informal grouping of viruses which caused human herpesvirus 6 Infection

Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) is the common collective name for human betaherpesvirus 6A (HHV-6A) and human betaherpesvirus 6B (HHV-6B). These closely related viruses are two of the nine known herpesviruses that have humans as their primary host.

Betaherpesvirinae is a subfamily of viruses in the order Herpesvirales and in the family Herpesviridae. Mammals serve as natural hosts. There are 26 species in this subfamily, divided among 5 genera. Diseases associated with this subfamily include: human cytomegalovirus (HHV-5): congenital CMV infection; HHV-6: 'sixth disease' ; HHV-7: symptoms analogous to the 'sixth disease'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rudi Pauwels</span> Belgian pharmacologist and entrepreneur

Rudi Pauwels is a Belgian pharmacologist and biotech entrepreneur.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Medical laboratory</span> Principles of management with special reference to medical science

A medical laboratory or clinical laboratory is a laboratory where tests are conducted out on clinical specimens to obtain information about the health of a patient to aid in diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease. Clinical medical laboratories are an example of applied science, as opposed to research laboratories that focus on basic science, such as found in some academic institutions.

In the diagnostic laboratory, virus infections can be confirmed by a myriad of methods. Diagnostic virology has changed rapidly due to the advent of molecular techniques and increased clinical sensitivity of serological assays.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">W. Ian Lipkin</span> Professor, microbiologist, epidemiologist

Walter Ian Lipkin is the John Snow Professor of Epidemiology at the Mailman School of Public Health at Columbia University and a professor of Neurology and Pathology at the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Columbia University. He is also director of the Center for Infection and Immunity, an academic laboratory for microbe hunting in acute and chronic diseases. Lipkin is internationally recognized for his work with West Nile virus, SARS and COVID-19.

Human betaherpesvirus 7 (HHV-7) is one of nine known members of the Herpesviridae family that infects humans. HHV-7 is a member of Betaherpesvirinae, a subfamily of the Herpesviridae that also includes HHV-6 and Cytomegalovirus. HHV-7 often acts together with HHV-6, and the viruses together are sometimes referred to by their genus, Roseolovirus. HHV-7 was first isolated in 1990 from CD4+ T cells taken from peripheral blood lymphocytes.

Neurovirology is an interdisciplinary field which represents a melding of clinical neuroscience, virology, immunology, and molecular biology. The main focus of the field is to study viruses capable of infecting the nervous system. In addition to this, the field studies the use of viruses to trace neuroanatomical pathways, for gene therapy, and to eliminate detrimental populations of neural cells.

EuResist is an international project designed to improve the treatment of HIV patients by developing a computerized system that can recommend optimal treatment based on the patient's clinical and genomic data.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Molecular diagnostics</span> Collection of techniques used to analyze biological markers in the genome and proteome

Molecular diagnostics is a collection of techniques used to analyze biological markers in the genome and proteome, and how their cells express their genes as proteins, applying molecular biology to medical testing. In medicine the technique is used to diagnose and monitor disease, detect risk, and decide which therapies will work best for individual patients, and in agricultural biosecurity similarly to monitor crop- and livestock disease, estimate risk, and decide what quarantine measures must be taken.

The National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) is located in UCD, Dublin, Ireland and is affiliated to the University College Dublin School of Medicine. The NVRL provides a diagnostic and reference service for clinicians in Ireland investigating viral infections. For over forty years, the NVRL have provided a virology diagnostic service to the Irish health service.

Clinical metagenomic next-generation sequencing (mNGS) is the comprehensive analysis of microbial and host genetic material in clinical samples from patients by next-generation sequencing. It uses the techniques of metagenomics to identify and characterize the genome of bacteria, fungi, parasites, and viruses without the need for a prior knowledge of a specific pathogen directly from clinical specimens. The capacity to detect all the potential pathogens in a sample makes metagenomic next generation sequencing a potent tool in the diagnosis of infectious disease especially when other more directed assays, such as PCR, fail. Its limitations include clinical utility, laboratory validity, sense and sensitivity, cost and regulatory considerations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">COVID-19 testing</span> Diagnostic testing for SARS-CoV-2 virus infection

COVID-19 testing involves analyzing samples to assess the current or past presence of SARS-CoV-2. The two main types of tests detect either the presence of the virus or antibodies produced in response to infection. Molecular tests for viral presence through its molecular components are used to diagnose individual cases and to allow public health authorities to trace and contain outbreaks. Antibody tests instead show whether someone once had the disease. They are less useful for diagnosing current infections because antibodies may not develop for weeks after infection. It is used to assess disease prevalence, which aids the estimation of the infection fatality rate.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christian Drosten</span> German virologist researching emergent viruses

Christian Heinrich Maria Drosten is a German virologist whose research focus is on novel viruses (emergent viruses). During the COVID-19 pandemic, Drosten came to national prominence as an expert on the implications and actions required to combat the illness in Germany.

Melanie Ott is a German virologist who is a senior investigator of The Ott Lab, Director the Gladstone Institute of Virology, and Senior Vice President of Gladstone Institutes. She is also a Professor of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco.

The Lancet Group of Laboratories, also known as Lancet Laboratories, is a private pathology service founded and based in Johannesburg, South Africa.

Keith R. Jerome is an American virologist whose research focuses on viruses such as herpes simplex, HIV and hepatitis B that persist in their hosts. He published on the first known case of COVID-19 in the United States detecting SARS-CoV-2 in Washington State and helped forge the nation's COVID-19 testing. In 2021, Jerome and Alexander Greninger shared the Washington Innovator of the Year award for developing the laboratory based assay for detecting COVID-19. He was senior author on a research article published in Science describing the cryptic transmission of SARS-CoV-2 alongside Trevor Bedford, Alexander Greninger, Jay Shendure, and Helen Chu. Regarding the origin of SARS-CoV-2 he reported that the live market in Wuhan was more likely than a lab leak of the virus.

References

  1. "Alex Greninger". The Pathologist.
  2. Weiland, Noah; Thomas, Katie (March 13, 2020). "Trump Administration Moves to Speed Coronavirus Testing". The New York Times via NYTimes.com.
  3. "Innovator of the Year awarded to directors of virology lab". 28 April 2021.
  4. Thomas, Katie; Kliff, Sarah; Bogel-Burroughs, Nicholas (March 7, 2020). "With Test Kits in Short Supply, Health Officials Sound Alarms". The New York Times via NYTimes.com.
  5. "Greninger Lab".
  6. Jewett, Christina (January 3, 2022). "With no way to identify Omicron and Delta patients, treatment decisions are vexing doctors". The New York Times via NYTimes.com.
  7. "Why this surge is complicating physicians' treatment decisions". www.beckershospitalreview.com.
  8. "Which COVID variant does this patient have? U.S. doctors struggle with treatment decisions". The Seattle Times. January 4, 2022.
  9. "Coexisting with the Coronavirus". The New Yorker. July 21, 2021.
  10. "Alexander Greninger awarded the Koichi Yamanishi Young Investigator Award for Basic Science | HHV-6 Foundation | HHV-6 Disease Information for Patients, Clinicians, and Researchers | Apply for a Grant". hhv-6foundation.org.