Ranjit Ray
Saint Louis University, MO·Microbiology & Immunology
Hepatitis C virus can infect the liver quietly for years and often leads to end-stage liver disease. Today's antiviral drugs clear the virus's genetic material from the body, but they do not stop someone from being infected again, and clearing the virus does not erase the risk of progressing to severe liver disease.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Medicine & Clinical Research
Biochemistry
- Topics
hepatitis C virus
vaccine development
envelope glycoprotein
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Apr 2027
What they work on
- Test whether introducing discrete point mutations into the hepatitis C virus E2 envelope protein, blocking its binding to the cell-surface receptor CD81, prevents E2 from suppressing immune cell function.
- Determine how purified E2 biases macrophages toward the quiescent M2 state and impairs dendritic cell and CD4+ T cell function, to define the immune-regulatory mechanism that limited earlier vaccine candidates.
- Build vaccine candidates delivering modified-nucleoside mRNA for mutated E2 inside lipid nanoparticles, combined with other viral regions including the E1 envelope protein and non-structural genes.
- Optimize prime-and-boost immunization regimens that pair mRNA-lipid nanoparticle delivery with proteins and peptides, measuring B-cell and T-cell responses for cross-genotype protective efficacy.
More about the research
For those reasons, controlling hepatitis C worldwide is thought to require a vaccine as well as drugs. None exists yet.
Why it matters
Hepatitis C remains a major worldwide cause of silent liver disease, and existing drugs cannot prevent reinfection. By identifying which viral antigens to use, re-engineering the E2 protein so it no longer suppresses immunity, and testing an mRNA–lipid nanoparticle delivery platform, this work could inform the design of a preventive hepatitis C vaccine that produces broad, cross-genotype protection.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Justin Bailey
Johns Hopkins University, MD·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether a dengue vaccine's serotype composition determines the balance, neutralizing potency, and durability of serotype-specific versus cross-reactive memory B cells and monoclonal antibodies, and whether those responses predict protection after controlled human challenge with serotype 2.
Eva Billerbeck
Albert Einstein College of Medicine, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Define the functional roles of distinct virus-specific effector and memory CD8+ killer T cell subsets in the liver during Norway rat hepacivirus infection, using high-dimensional flow cytometry and transcriptome analysis.
Ashley Nelson
Weill Medical College of Cornell University, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Compare giving germline-targeting HIV envelope immunogens one after another versus all at once for waking up precursor B cells of two broadly neutralizing antibody classes: those binding the CD4 binding site and those binding the V2 apex of the viral spike.
The school
Saint Louis University: 5 labs on PI Pages, $96M a year on research, 251 research doctorates a year.
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