Publications

from people to panthera: natural sars-cov-2 infection in tigers and lions at the bronx zoo.	despite numerous barriers to transmission, zoonoses are the major cause of emerging infectious diseases in humans. among these, severe acute respiratory syndrome (sars), middle east respiratory syndrome (mers), and ebolaviruses have killed thousands; the human immunodeficiency virus (hiv) has killed millions. zoonoses and human-to-animal cross-species transmission are driven by human actions and have important management, conservation, and public health implications. the current sars-cov-2 pande ...	2020	33051368
lions, tigers and kittens too: ace2 and susceptibility to covid-19.	sars-cov-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) has been reported to infect domesticated animals in a species-specific manner, where cats were susceptible but not dogs. using the recently published crystal structure of the sars-cov-2 spike protein complexed with the human host cell receptor angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ace2), we characterized the structure and evolution of ace2 in several of these species and identify a single interacting amino acid residue conserved between hum ...	2020	32974030
transmission of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) to animals: an updated review.	covid-19 caused by a novel severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (sars-cov-2) originated in wuhan (hubei province, china) during late 2019. it has spread across the globe affecting nearly 21 million people with a toll of 0.75 million deaths and restricting the movement of most of the world population during the past 6 months. covid-19 became the leading health, economic, and humanitarian challenge of the twenty-first century. in addition to the considerable covid-19 cases, hospitalizat ...	2020	32957995
an alphavirus-derived replicon rna vaccine induces sars-cov-2 neutralizing antibody and t cell responses in mice and nonhuman primates.	the coronavirus disease 2019 (covid-19) pandemic, caused by infection with the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2), is having a deleterious impact on health services and the global economy, highlighting the urgent need for an effective vaccine. such a vaccine would need to rapidly confer protection after one or two doses and would need to be manufactured using components suitable for scale up. here, we developed an alphavirus-derived replicon rna vaccine candidate, reprn ...	2020	32690628
sars-cov-2 host diversity: an update of natural infections and experimental evidence.	coronavirus disease-19 (covid-19) caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (sars-cov-2) is now a pandemic threat. this virus is supposed to be spread by human to human transmission. cellular angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 (ace2) is the receptor of sars-cov-2 which is identical or similar in different species of animals such as pigs, ferrets, cats, orangutans, monkeys, and humans. moreover, a recent study predicted that dogs might be secondary hosts during the evolution of s ...	2020	32624360