Christopher Basler, Ph.D.
Title: Assistant Professor
- Institution: Mount Sinai School of Medicine
Phone: (212) 241-4847
Fax: (212) 534-1684
Email: chris.basler@mssm.edu
- Mailing Address:
Mount Sinai School of Medicine
1 Gustave L Levy Place
Box 1124
New York, NY 10029-6500
Lab Web site: http://www.mssm.edu/labs/baslec01/index.html
Dr. Basler is using a combination of reverse genetics, molecular biological, biochemical, and serological assays to understand the contributions of the HA and NA proteins of the 1918 virus to virulence and to assess the antigenic novelty of the 1918 surface glycoproteins. This project is evaluating the hypothesis that the high mortality rate of the 1918 pandemic was influenced both by the existence of an immunologically naive human population and by additional properties of the 1918 virus HA and NA. Interactions with Dr. Wilson's group enhance the structural interpretation of the molecular and biological properties of these viral antigens. Pathogenesis studies of recombinant viruses containing 1918 HA and NA genes conducted in mice, chickens, and macaques are being used to further evaluate the role of these proteins in virulence.