Barry Rockx

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Great collaboration with the group of Sander Koenraadt, @marionkoopmans.bsky.social from the #OneHealthPact and many others.

In addition, saliva from Cx. pipiens biotypes enhance WNV-induced morbidity and mortality in vivo, as well as increased dermal vascular permeability at the inoculation site. However, only Cx pipiens molestus saliva enhances WNV viremia.

🦟 Imke found that saliva from anthropophilic mosquitoes (Aedes and Cx. pipiens molestus) increases permeability of the dermal endothelium, likely due to protease(s) absent in ornithophilic Cx. pipiens pipiens.

Effect of mosquito saliva from distinct species on human dermal endothelial cell function in vitro and West Nile virus pathogenesis in vivo During probing and feeding, an infected mosquito injects both virus and saliva into the host skin. The presence of mosquito saliva in the skin increases arbovirus pathogenesis in the bitten host, h...

While finishing her thesis, Imke Visser just published another very cool paper on the effects of mosquito saliva from distinct species on human dermal endothelial cell function in vitro and West Nile virus pathogenesis in vivo. doi.org/10.1080/2222...

A pan-orthohantavirus human lung xenograft mouse model and its utility for preclinical studies Author summary Orthohantaviruses are rodent-borne pathogens that can be transmitted from rodents to humans by inhalation of aerosolized virus-contaminated rodent excreta. While orthohantaviruses gener...

Perfect timing! Today Danny Noack is defending his thesis on "Novel models to study #orthohantavirus infection and pathogenesis", and coincidentally the final chapter of his thesis was published today, what an achievement! #proudPI, dx.plos.org/10.1371/jour...

What a start of the year! Email on Jan 1st, paper accepted! Stay tuned!

It depends on the question I suppose. I particularly like the human lung xenograft model, because it allows (for the first time) for direct comparison of HFRS and HCPS viruses in human lung tissue. The possibilities with combining with a human immune system are especially exciting!

As if writing a thesis wasn’t hard enough, Eleanor did the design and layout all by herself. Even the individual chapter pages are specifically geared towards each topic.

3/ Finally, she consolidated the clinicopathological findings obtained from human cases of WNV neuroinvasive disease and compare these with the sparse data available for human cases of USUV-related disease, to speculate on the underlying causes of the clinical differences.

2/ Next, she investigated the haematogenous routes of neuroinvasion to identify whether USUV and WNV differ in their ability to invade across the blood-brain barrier. She then used motor neurons to investigate their potential for use of transneural routes of neuroinvasion.

1/ During her PhD, Eleanor started with an overview of the neuroinvasive routes and mechanisms employed by arboviruses. She then identify whether USUV and WNV differ in their ability to infect and replicate within the brain, using a human brain slice model.

Xmas came early this year! Not 1 but two theses received from 2 highly talented PhD students. Can't wait for their thesis defenses next year, what a way to start 2025!

Very proud of Eleanor Marshall, today she handed me a copy of her thesis. She will defend her thesis on Thursday February 13th! It was a pleasure supervising her! #ProudPI

/3 Finally, he used a human lung xenograft mouse model to study the early cell tropism and host response of a range of HFRS and HCPS orthohantaviruses in human lung tissue in vivo.

/2 He then went on to develop a 3D vessel-on-chip model to investigate the effect of Puumala virus infection on endothelial cell function and response. He also studied the difference in endothelial cell responses to Seoul virus infection in the reservoir (rats) and humans.

/1 During his PhD, Danny first characterized a Puumala virus patient cohort to identify key immunological, hemostatic and kidney injury markers. Next he summarized current data on cell tropism in humans and animals, identifying key gaps in knowledge.

Very proud of Danny Noack, today he handed me a copy of his thesis. He will defend on Thursday, January 23rd! It’s been an pleasure supervising him! #ProudPI

7/ Great collaboration between Wageningen Bioveterinary Research, Laurens Liesenborghs, ISIDORe, VetBioNet, RIVM and many others.

6/ However, given the ongoing multi-country outbreak of clade I MPXV, here we present a potential new infection and disease model that recapitulates the disease seen in the majority of human cases and can be used for preclinical evaluation of countermeasures against MPXV.

5/ Based on the acute self-limiting infection, lack of viremia, and lack of prolonged shedding as shown in this study, there is a low risk for rats to establish as a reservoir for MPXV.

4/ We showed that experimental inoculation of rats with MPXV results in an acute and self-limiting infection, characterized by a transient development of skin lesions. Infected rats also shed infectious MPXV via the respiratory tract and skin lesions.

3/ The main objective of this study was to assess the susceptibility of rats to MPXV and characterize the disease progression, viral shedding and transmission potential in an effort to understand whether rats could potentially act as (intermediate) host and become reservoirs.

2/ The detection of MPXV in waste water adds to the potential risk of brown rats, which often live in sewers, becoming a reservoir for this virus. Therefore, we revisited the 1976 observation that adult rats, but not newborns, appeared to be resistant to large doses of MPXV.

Experimental monkeypox virus infection in rats The global spread of Monkeypox virus (MPXV) clade IIb in 2022/2023 raised concerns about spillback into new animal reservoirs. Experimental inoculation of rats with MPXV resulted in skin lesions and v...

New preprint! The global spread of Monkeypox virus (MPXV) clade IIb in 2022/2023 raised concerns about spillback into new animal reservoirs. In this study we showed that rats are susceptible to infection with MPXV. doi.org/10.1101/2024...

I am looking for a postdoctoral researcher to investigate mucosal immune responses in infectious disease models. More information can be found here: www.training.nih.gov/jobs/pdirta-...
Please share 😊

Her results show that this strain could efficiently infect primary human cells of the blood-brain barrier and caused significant weight loss, neurological signs, and disease in mice, confirming neurovirulence.

In vitro and in vivo characterization of a novel West Nile virus lineage 2 strain - npj Viruses npj Viruses - In vitro and in vivo characterization of a novel West Nile virus lineage 2 strain

First research paper of Imke Visser's thesis published! Very cool paper on evaluating the virulence of a newly emerged WNV lineage 2 strain isolated in the Netherlands, in 2020 as part of OneHealthPact!
www.nature.com/articles/s44...

400 followers in 4 days, that's crazy! Anyway, we have this super cool seminar tomorrow (THURSDAY) with @barryrockx.bsky.social . Let us know if you need a zoom link. All welcome!
#virology #high_containment #pathogenesis

PhD Position in H5Nx Virus Evolution and Host Interactions Dive into the captivating world of virus-host interactions and help us redefine how to assess/predict zoonotic influenza outbreaks.

First post here... let's check it out... last days to apply for a PhD position in my lab! Looking for glyco and viro enthusiasts. #glycotime #lovevirology @eakarlsson.bsky.social www.uu.nl/en/organisat...