Sonja M. Best | |
---|---|
Alma mater | University of Adelaide (BS) Australian National University (PhD) |
Awards | PECASE (2011) |
Scientific career | |
Fields | Viral pathogenesis |
Institutions | Rocky Mountain Laboratories |
Thesis | Pathogenesis of myxoma virus (1998) |
Sonja Marie Best is an Australian-American virologist. She is chief of the innate immunity and pathogenesis section at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Best researches interactions between pathogenic viruses and the host immune response using flavivirus as a model.
Best earned a B.S. with majors in immunology and microbiology and a second major in zoology from University of Adelaide. [1] She received her Ph.D. in biochemistry and molecular biology from the Australian National University where she studied the pathogenesis of myxoma virus. [2] [3] In 1999, she conducted her postdoctoral research at Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) on the complex role of apoptosis in the replication of parvoviruses. [3] [4]
Best stayed at RML as a research fellow and in 2007, she became a staff scientist. [1] She investigated virus-host interactions involved in flavivirus pathogenesis. It was during this time that she developed her interests in innate immunity and the molecular mechanisms utilized by flaviviruses to evade these critical host responses. In 2009, Best established an independent laboratory as a tenure-track investigator to expand her studies on interactions between pathogenic viruses and the host immune response. She is chief of the innate immunity and pathogenesis section. [3] Best investigates the mechanisms underpinning early immune activation after infection with RNA viruses and how emerging viruses evade these early responses to cause disease. Her virus models include emerging flaviviruses (such as Zika virus and encephalitis) and filoviruses (Ebola virus). [1]
In 2011, Best was awarded a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers for her work on flavivirus suppression of innate immune responses. [3]
Flavivirus, renamed Orthoflavivirus in 2023, is a genus of positive-strand RNA viruses in the family Flaviviridae. The genus includes the West Nile virus, dengue virus, tick-borne encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus, Zika virus and several other viruses which may cause encephalitis, as well as insect-specific flaviviruses (ISFs) such as cell fusing agent virus (CFAV), Palm Creek virus (PCV), and Parramatta River virus (PaRV). While dual-host flaviviruses can infect vertebrates as well as arthropods, insect-specific flaviviruses are restricted to their competent arthropods. The means by which flaviviruses establish persistent infection in their competent vectors and cause disease in humans depends upon several virus-host interactions, including the intricate interplay between flavivirus-encoded immune antagonists and the host antiviral innate immune effector molecules.
The National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) is one of the institutes and centers that make up the National Institutes of Health, an agency of the United States Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
Viral pathogenesis is the study of the process and mechanisms by which viruses cause diseases in their target hosts, often at the cellular or molecular level. It is a specialized field of study in virology.
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Wilhelm Burgdorfer was a Swiss-American scientist and an international leader in the field of medical entomology. He discovered the bacterial pathogen that causes Lyme disease, a spirochete named Borrelia burgdorferi in his honor.
Myxoma virus is a poxvirus in the genus Leporipoxvirus. The two broad geographic types of myxoma virus are Californian and South American. Californian myxoma virus is found on the West Coast of the United States, the Baja Peninsula of Mexico, and the southwest coast of Canada. South American or Brazilian myxoma virus is found in South and Central America. South American myxoma virus circulates in the jungle rabbit or tapeti, whereas Californian myxoma virus circulates in the brush rabbit. In their native hosts, the viruses cause the formation of benign cutaneous fibromas rather than systemic disease.
Host tropism is the infection specificity of certain pathogens to particular hosts and host tissues. This explains why most pathogens are only capable of infecting a limited range of host organisms.
Rocky Mountain Laboratories (RML) is part of the NIH Intramural Research Program and is located in Hamilton, Montana. Operated by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, RML conducts research on maximum containment pathogens such as Ebola as well as research on prions and intracellular pathogens such as Coxiella burnetii and Francisella tularensis. RML operates one of the few Biosafety level 4 laboratories in the United States, as well as Biosafety level 3 and ABSL3/4 laboratories.
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Ann Linnea Sandberg was an American immunologist and the acting director of the Center for Integrative Craniofacial Research at the National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research (NIDCR). Previously, Sandberg was a lab chief and researcher for 23 years in the NIH Intramural Research Program at NIDCR.
Emmie de Wit is a Dutch-American virologist. She is chief of the molecular pathogenesis unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Her research combines pathogenesis studies with detailed molecular analyses to identify molecular determinants of severe respiratory tract disease within the virus and the host.
Andrea Marzi is a German-American virologist. She is chief of the immunobiology and molecular virology unit at the Rocky Mountain Laboratories. Marzi investigates the pathogenesis of filoviruses and vaccine development. She received the Loeffler-Frosch medal in recognition of her research.
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Flavivirus 3' UTR are untranslated regions in the genome of viruses in the genus Flavivirus.