Katzelnick Research Group

There are still no licensed, broadly protective vaccines against two of the most important flaviviruses, dengue viruses 1 to 4 (DENV1-4) and Zika virus (ZIKV). The only licensed dengue vaccine, Dengvaxia, was introduced as part of a mass-vaccination campaign of ~800,000 children in the Philippines before it was shown that the vaccine increases risk of severe dengue in some children. In the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, we use a multidisciplinary approach encompassing virology, immunology, and epidemiology to investigate protection against and susceptibility to emerging viruses to inform safe and effective deployments of vaccines. Our lab’s primary expertise is in seroepidemiology. We develop and apply immunological assays to measure biological determinants of disease outcomes in humans and analyze these data using statistical, computational, and epidemiological methods to address the following themes.

  1. Antigenic and genetic viral evolution
  2. Host immunological determinants of long-term protection and disease risk
  3. Dynamics of viral transmission at the population level to inform disease prevention efforts

Our research focuses on the determinants of virus-specific immunity and the induction of the broadly cross-reactive immunity to DENV, which we believe serves as a model pathogen for other complex, immune-evasive viruses. Our work directly informs public health and preventative measures, including development of better next generation vaccines, design of interventions to increase the longevity of vaccine-induced immunity, and monitoring of how vaccines affect and are affected by viral evolution and transmission.

Photo of the Katzelnick Research Group

Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, 2022. Clockwise from back left: Rosie Aogo, Guillermo Raimundi Rodriguez, Camila Odio, Charlie Voirin, Patrick Mpingabo, Saba Firdous, Chloe Hasund, Kelsey Lowman, Leah Katzelnick.

Leah C. Katzelnick, Ph.D., MPH

Chief, Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit

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Education:

Ph.D., 2016, University of Cambridge

Dr. Leah Katzelnick pursued a Ph.D. studying antigenic variation among dengue viruses at the University of Cambridge and the National Institutes of Health as an NIH OxCam Scholar and Gates Cambridge Scholar. After receiving her Ph.D. in 2016, she conducted her postdoctoral work at the University of California, Berkeley and University of Florida on determinants of dengue and Zika disease, spending a year in Ecuador and Nicaragua to work closely with research teams conducting longitudinal cohort studies. In September of 2020, Leah became an Earl Stadtman tenure-track investigator and NIH Distinguished Scholar in the Laboratory of Infectious Diseases in NIAID. She is Chief of the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit.

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Rosie Aogo, Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Mathematical Biology, University of New South Wales, Australia
MSc, Biomathematics, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
MSc, Mathematical Sciences, African Institute for Mathematical Sciences, South Africa
BSc, Maseno University, Kenya

Languages Spoken: Kiswahili

Rosie is a Postdoc Fellow at the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, LID, NIAID. Her current research focuses on using mathematical, statistical and machine learning tools to understand the within and between-host disease dynamics and in particular, diseases caused by dengue and Zika viruses. She is particularly interested in the dynamics of pathogens (bacteria, viruses, and parasites), their...

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Saba Firdous, M.S.

Laboratory Researcher

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Education:

M.S., Biomedical Science, Hood College, Maryland

M.B.B.S., NTR University, India

Languages Spoken: Hindi, Urdu

Saba is a lab researcher and manager at the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit. She has worked at the laboratory of Clinical Immunology and Microbiology, NIAID. She focused on characterizing glycogen synthase and glycogen phosphorylase mutant Chlamydial serovar L2 strains and understanding genetic mechanisms and pathogenesis. She studied the mechanism of early neutrophil response to...

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Chloe M. Hasund, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Global and Public Health Sciences, Cornell University

Chloe is a Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow in the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, LID, NIAID. She joined the VEIU after spending some time working under Dr. Nancy J. Sullivan in the Biodefense Research Section, where she helped clarify the binding footprints of novel anti-Sudan ebolavirus therapeutics. Her research interests broadly include infectious diseases and epidemiology and...

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Melissa Law, B.S.N.

Registered Nurse; Protocol Nurse Coordinator

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Education:

B.S.N., University of Maryland, School of Nursing

Melissa has extensive clinical research experience within NIAID caring for participants with primary immune deficiencies, HIV, parasitic diseases, eosinophilia, and Lyme disease. Roles have included medical/surgical nursing, case management and study coordination. She has also worked for the Davies Medical Center in San Francisco doing HIV research as well as with the Montgomery County Maryland...

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Kelsey Lowman, M.S.

Ph.D. Student, NIH Oxford Cambridge Scholars Program

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Education:

M.S., Biological Sciences, University of Alabama
B.S., Microbiology, University of Alabama

Kelsey is an NIH-Cambridge scholar conducting her Ph.D. research under the co-mentorship of Dr. Leah Katzelnick (NIAID) at the NIH and Dr. Jonathan Heeney in the Department of Veterinary Medicine at Cambridge University. Her research explores the importance of re-exposure in driving a diverse and enduring immunity to viral pathogens. Her general research interests include viral immunology...

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Patrick Mpingabo, M.D., Ph.D.

Postdoctoral Research Fellow

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Education:

Ph.D., Medical Sciences/ Virology, Nagasaki University, Japan
M.D., University of Kinshasa Congo, DRC

Languages Spoken: French, Japanese

Patrick is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the Viral Epidemiology and Immunity Unit, LID, NIAID. His previous work focused on clinical trials of drugs for the treatment of malaria and the determinants of cell-type dependent virus release for New and Old-World Arenaviruses, including Junin virus, Machupo virus, Tacaribe virus, Latino virus, Pichinde virus and Lassa virus. He is currently focused...

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Camila D. Odio, M.D.

Clinical Fellow in Infectious Diseases

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Education:

Internal Medicine Residency, Yale University

M.D., Cleveland Clinic Lerner College of Medicine

BA, Kenyon College

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Camila completed her clinical rotations in infectious diseases through NIAID’s fellowship program including training at Johns Hopkins, George Washington University Hospital, Medstar Georgetown, and the NIH’s Clinical Center.

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Guillermo L. Raimundi Rodriguez, B.S.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

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Education:

B.S., Industrial Microbiology, Universidad of Puerto Rico at Mayagüez

Languages Spoken: Spanish

Guillermo is an NIH Academy Enrichment Program (NAEP) Postbaccalaureate Fellow. He arrived after completing an extramural postbac program in Virginia Tech studying the immunopathology of Hepatitis E Virus, and now studies the determinants of neutralizing antibodies against dengue virus in individuals vaccinated against Zika virus. His research interests include infectious diseases and science...

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Charlie Voirin, B.A.

Postbaccalaureate Research Fellow

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Education:

B.A., Biology, Kenyon College

Charlie is a Postbaccalaureate Fellow in the Viral Epidemiology and Immunology Unit, LID, NIAID. He recently completed an undergraduate thesis in the molecular ecology of avian telomere dynamics, and his interest in disease ecology led him to the VEIU where he is excited to learn more about the virology, epidemiology, and immunology of dengue virus.

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Former Research Group Members

•    Fernando Echegaray, B.A. Medical Student at David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA.
•    Sandra Mayer, Ph.D., D.V.M., M.Sc. Research Scientist at Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR).
•    Janet Ogeneitsega Joseph, B.Sc. PhD student at Brown University.
•    Ana Coello Escoto, B.A. Scientist and Lab Manager at Astrazeneca.

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