Viral Pathogenesis

Veterinary virology is of paramount importance to animal health because of the major impact viruses have on domestic animals and wildlife. Furthermore, many veterinary species are naturally infected with pathogens closely related to those that infect humans. These animal and human pathogens frequently share similar pathogenesis profiles, thus making animal diseases valuable translational models for their human counterparts. Veterinary virology has an important impact on our understanding of human disease pathogenesis, and veterinary viruses are frequently used as surrogates of human viruses in the discovery and development of novel antiviral drugs and vaccines.

The viruses we currently study are herpesviruses in various animals and hepatitis-associated viruses in horses, including a novel equine parvovirus. For this work, we establish and use in vitro 2D cell cultures, ex vivo 3D explant and organoid models, and in vivo rodent and large animal models.

Selected publications:

1) Pathogenesis, MicroRNA-122 Gene-Regulation, and Protective Immune Responses After Acute Equine Hepacivirus Infection
Tomlinson JE, Wolfisberg R, Fahnøe U, Patel RS, Trivedi S, Kumar A, Sharma H, Nielsen L, McDonough SP, Bukh J, Tennant BC, Kapoor A, Rosenberg BR, Rice CM, Divers TJ, Van de Walle GR, Scheel TKH.
Hepatology. 2021 Sep;74(3):1148-1163. doi: 10.1002/hep.31802. Epub 2021 Jun 11. PMID: 33713356

2) Tropism, pathology, and transmission of equine parvovirus-hepatitis.
Tomlinson JE, Jager M, Struzyna A, Laverack M, Fortier LA, Dubovi E, Foil LD, Burbelo PD, Divers TJ, Van de Walle GR.
Emerg Microbes Infect. 2020 Mar 20;9(1):651-663. doi: 10.1080/22221751.2020.1741326. eCollection 2020. PMID: 32192415

3) What Do We Know About Hepatitis Viruses in Horses?
Tomlinson JE, Van de Walle GR, Divers TJ.
Vet Clin North Am Equine Pract. 2019 Aug;35(2):351-362. doi: 10.1016/j.cveq.2019.03.001.

4) The HIV Integrase Inhibitor Raltegravir Inhibits Felid Alphaherpesvirus 1 Replication by Targeting both DNA Replication and Late Gene Expression.
Pennington MR, Voorhees IEH, Callaway HM, Dehghanpir SD, Baines JD, Parrish CR, Van de Walle GR.
J Virol. 2018 Sep 26;92(20). pii: e00994-18. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00994-18.

5) First demonstration of equid gammaherpesviruses within the gastric mucosal epithelium of horses.
Pennington MR, Cossic BGA, Perkins GA, Duffy C, Duhamel GE, Van de Walle GR.
Virus Res. 2017 Oct 15;242:30-36. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2017.09.002.

6) Characterization of nonprimate hepacivirus and construction of a functional molecular clone.
Scheel TK, Kapoor A, Nishiuchi E, Brock KV, Yu Y, Andrus L, Gu M, Renshaw RW, Dubovi EJ, McDonough SP, Van de Walle GR, Lipkin WI, Divers TJ, Tennant BC, Rice CM.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2015 Feb 17;112(7):2192-7. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1500265112.

7) Establishment and characterization of an air-liquid canine corneal organ culture model to study acute herpes keratitis.
Harman RM, Bussche L, Ledbetter EC, Van de Walle GR.
J Virol. 2014 Dec;88(23):13669-77. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02135-14.