Host-Pathogen Dynamics

Using cutting edge imaging and spectroscopic technologies combined with novel lipidomic and proteomic approaches, investigations in the Laboratory of Host-Pathogen Dynamics, led by Dr. Nihal Altan-Bonnet, have been at the forefront of understanding the virus-host interface, revealing novel replication and transmission mechanisms shared by many different human viruses.

Nihal Altan-Bonnet

Senior Investigator Research Interests

Research Interests

Dr. Nihal Altan-Bonnet heads the Laboratory of Host-Pathogen Dynamics at the National Institutes of Health in the USA. Her lab is comprised of a multidisciplinary team of cell biologists, virologists, environmental engineers, and computational biologists who apply their talents to understand how viruses transmit themselves effectively among hosts and establish successful infections. Dr. Altan-Bonnet and her team have made groundbreaking discoveries that include:

Images

coronaviruses get out of cells using lysosomes
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Host-Pathogen Dynamics Images

How coronaviruses get out of cells using lysosomes (Ghosh et al., Cell 2020)

Electron micrograph of SARS-COV2 particles inside lysosomes
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Host-Pathogen Dynamics Images

Electron micrograph of SARS-COV2 particles inside lysosomes

viruses travel in clusters inside extracellular vesicles
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Host-Pathogen Dynamics Images

A new form of viral transmission: viruses travel in clusters inside extracellular vesicles ( Santiana et al., Cell Host and Microbe 2018)

Host lipids PI4P, cholesterol are hijacked by RNA viruses to facilitate their replication
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Host-Pathogen Dynamics Images

Host lipids PI4P, cholesterol are hijacked by RNA viruses to facilitate their replication ( Altan-Bonnet., Trends in Cell Biology 2016)

Meet the Team

Nihal Altan-Bonnet

Nihal Altan-Bonnet, Ph.D.

Senior Investigator

Dr. Nihal Altan-Bonnet received her Ph.D. in cellular biophysics from The Rockefeller University. After conducting postdoctoral research with Dr. Jennifer Lippincott-Schwartz at the NIH, she joined the faculty of Rutgers University. In 2013, Dr. Altan-Bonnet returned to the NIH as an Earl Stadtman Investigator, becoming head of the Laboratory of Host-Pathogen Dynamics at the NHLBI and was promoted to tenured Senior Investigator in 2017.

Dr. Altan-Bonnet has been recognized several times for her outstanding research, including receiving the Presidential Early Career Award in Science and Engineering (PECASE) (2012), being named a Kavli Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences (2013), a Scialog Fellow of the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation (2015-2017) and being elected to the American Academy of Microbiology (2022) and the Henry Kunkel Society (2023).

Hannah Karen

Hannah Karen Labayo, AMT, ASCPi, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Fellow
Mamata Panigrahi

Mamata Panigrahi

Visiting Post Doc Fellow
Gunjan Arora

Gunjan Arora

Staff Scientist
Graham Brogden

Graham Brogden

Research Fellow
Kojiro Mukai

Kojiro Mukai

Research Fellow
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