Contact Nora Grannell for media interviews with GVN experts: ngrannell@gvn.org or
410-706-1966
GVN Ebola Experts
Stephan Becker, Ph.D., Professor at the Institute for Virology, Philipps University of Marburg,
Marburg, Germany, and Director of the University of Marburg GVN Center of Excellence.
Dr. Becker’s colleagues have been in West Africa for months to help in the fight against Ebola.
The German scientists have been visiting villages to test sick people for the virus as part of the
European Mobile Laboratory Project. This is very important as infected people should not be
nursed at home but taken to a quarantine facility. Infected corpses should be buried with special
care and without being touched. These precautions are necessary to stop further infections and to
contain the epidemic.
Dr. Becker’s research is focused on understanding transcription replication strategies of
filoviruses like Ebola and the molecular interplay between viral replication and viral assembly.
The family of Filoviridae comprises Marburg and Ebola viruses, both causing severe
hemorrhagic fever in humans and non-human primates. The natural reservoir of filoviruses
seems to be fruit bats from which the virus can spread to humans in endemic regions in Central
Africa. Since no vaccine and specific therapeutics are available, filoviruses are categorized as
level 4 agents, which are investigated under highest safety precautions (biosafety level 4).
Tel: 06421-28-66253; Becker@staff.uni-marburg.de
Thomas W Geisbert, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of
Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), Galveston, Texas, USA, and Member of the UTMB GVN
Center of Excellence.
UTMB is the only U.S. academic university to have a BioSafety Level 4 laboratory. The
National Institutes of Health recently awarded Dr. Geisbert's lab funds as part of a five-year, $26
million grant to develop promising treatments for Ebola. The Geisbert lab focuses on three
areas: a man-made antibody treatment; a promising Canadian drug from Tekmira
Pharmaceuticals shown to protect monkeys from Ebola; and a vaccine that can be used both to
prevent infection and also treat it.
Dr. Geisbert’s work emphasizes studies on viruses causing hemorrhagic fever (HF) including
Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and Lassa virus. Efforts focus on: 1) developing, refining and
characterizing animal models that accurately reproduce human viral HF infection; 2) identifying
critical pathogenic processes of viral HF infections that could be exploited as targets for
therapeutic interventions. Particular emphasis is placed on determining the basis of coagulopathy
and shock that characterize HF viral infections; and 3) measuring the therapeutic benefits of
interrupting pathogenic processes that are important in the development of HF viral infection.
Currently, there are no vaccines against Ebola, Marburg, or Lassa viruses approved for use in
humans. Dr. Giesbert’s laboratory focuses primarily on using recombinant vesicular stomatitis
virus (rVSV) as a vaccine vector for viral HF. They have shown that rVSV-based HF viral
vaccines can completely protect nonhuman primates against Ebola HF, Marburg HF, and Lassa
fever.
Tel: 409-266-6906; twgeisbe@utmb.edu
Janusz Paweska, D.V.M., Head of the Special Pathogens Unit at the Centre for Emerging and
Zoonotic Diseases at the National Institute for Communicable Diseases, Johannesburg, South
Africa, and Director of the South African GVN Center of Excellence.
Dr. Paweska travelled to the Democratic Republic of Congo to trap and kill bats in an effort to
isolate the Ebola virus and identify bats as the animal reservoir – which has yet to be proven. Dr.
Paweska is monitoring the current Ebola outbreak in his fellow African nations.
Dr. Paweska’s research specifically investigates the immune systems of fruit bats believed to
harbor various hemorrhagic viruses like Ebola. Understanding how the bat immune system
counteracts the replication or the growth of these very dangerous viruses may better direct the
development of antivirals or into the development of some vaccines for use in human patients.
Tel: 27-11-386-6382; januszp@nicd.ac.za
Erica Ollman Saphire, Ph.D., Professor at the Department of Immunology & Microbial
Science at The Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, California, USA, and Co-director of The
Scripps Institute GVN Center of Excellence.
Currently, Dr. Ollman Saphire is collaborating on the ZMAPP serum – or monoclonal antibody –
used to treat two Americans who contracted Ebola in Liberia and are being treated at Emory
University. Recently, the National Institutes of Health awarded Dr. Ollman Saphire and
colleagues a five-year grant of $26 million to establish a new center for excellence to find an
antibody mixture to fight the deadly Ebola virus. The project, which involves researchers from
15 institutions, is led by Dr. Saphire.
Dr. Ollmann Saphire's laboratory explores, at the molecular level, how pathogens evade and
usurp innate and adaptive immune responses and how we can design vaccines and antivirals to
defend against them. She incorporates x-ray crystallography, virology, and immunology in her
analysis of the key proteins responsible for the pathogenesis of and immune suppression in
Lassa, LCMV, Marburg, and Ebola Hemorrhagic Fevers.
Tel: 858-784-8602; erica@scripps.edu