Investigators and Program Directors

Arlene I. Ramsingh

Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center, Viral Disease

Ph.D., University of Alberta (1983)
Post-doctoral training, Yale University

E-mail: ramsingh@wadsworth.org

Research Interests

Viruses cause chronic disease as varied as autoimmune disease and cancer. While much is known about the molecular details of viral replication, the question of how viruses cause chronic disease is largely unanswered. My laboratory studies viral pathogenesis with emphasis on the virus-host interaction that results in the development of disease. We have developed a mouse model system of virus-induced chronic disease using a coxsackievirus. Coxsackieviruses are small RNA viruses that are generally associated with asymptomatic infection or mild disease. In rare cases, coxsackieviruses are implicated in inflammatory diseases of the heart and pancreas. Our work focuses on understanding the viral determinants of disease, the immune response to infection, and the genetic control of tissue repair.

During the course of these studies, we identified a coxsackievirus variant that is highly attenuated and able to induce protective immunity against a virulent variant. Given that coxsackieviruses induce mucosal and systemic immunity, our results suggest that the identified virus variant might be useful as a vaccine vector. Foreign sequences have been expressed within the coxsackievirus variant. Recombinant viruses are genetically stable and can induce immune responses against the foreign sequence. Of particular interest is the idea of using recombinant coxsackieviruses as therapeutic vaccines for chronic infections such as HIV and hepatitis C.

Contact Information

E-mail: ramsingh@wadsworth.org.