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Highlighted Papers

Zhang et al Nature Microbiology title page

Amino acid changes in two viral proteins drive attenuation of the yellow fever 17D vaccine

Membrane-proximal motifs encode differences in signaling strength between type I and III interferon receptors.

Targeted viral adaptation generates a simian-tropic hepatitis B virus that infects marmoset cells

Hepatitis B virus cccDNA is formed through distinct repair processes of each strand

Core Components of DNA Lagging Strand Synthesis Machinery Are Essential for Hepatitis B Virus cccDNA Formation

Decoding type I and III interferon signalling during viral infection

Selective expansion of myeloid and NK cells in humanized mice yields human-like vaccine responses

Preclinical assessment of antiviral combination therapy in a genetically humanized mouse model for hepatitis delta virus infection

Yellow Fever Virus: Knowledge Gaps Impeding the Fight Against an Old Foe

Species-specific disruption of STING-dependent antiviral cellular defenses by the Zika virus NS2B3 protease

Hepatitis E virus: advances and challenges

Long-term hepatitis B infection in a scalable hepatic co-culture system

Single-cell tracking of flavivirus RNA uncovers species-specific interactions with the immune system dictating disease outcome.

Hepatitis E virus ORF3 is a functional ion channel required for release of infectious particles.

Cell host and Microbe Minireview title page

The impact of hepatitis C virus entry on viral tropism.

Broadly neutralizing antibodies abrogate established hepatitis C virus infection.

HIV therapy by a combination of broadly neutralizing antibodies in humanized mice.

A genetically humanized mouse model for hepatitis C virus infection.

Persistent hepatitis C virus infection in microscale primary human hepatocyte cultures.

Human occludin is a hepatitis C virus entry factor required for infection of mouse cells.

Publications List

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In Press

Ijoma, Jenny, Andoni Gomez-Moreno, Samer Ayoub, and Alexander Ploss. (2026) 2026. “Mechanisms Restricting Hepatitis B Virus Cross-Species Transmission”. MBio, e0376325. doi:10.1128/mbio.03763-25.

2025

Nelson, Amy, Saloni Sinha, Sydney J Mullin, Sebastian S Carver, Thomas R Cafiero, Aaron E Lin, Robert E Schwartz, and Alexander Ploss. (2025) 2025. “STAT1-Mediated Interferon Signaling in the Hematopoietic System Is Essential for Restricting Usutu Virus Infection in Vivo”. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases 19 (7): e0013317. doi:10.1371/journal.pntd.0013317.

Zhang, Jiayu, Elizabeth C Chavez, Melina Winkler, Jianche Liu, Sebastian Carver, Aaron E Lin, Abhishek Biswas, et al. (2025) 2025. “Amino Acid Changes in Two Viral Proteins Drive Attenuation of the Yellow Fever 17D Vaccine”. Nature Microbiology 10 (8): 1902-17. doi:10.1038/s41564-025-02047-y.

Xiang, Jinhua, James H McLinden, Qing Chang, Micaela Fosdick, Hillel Haim, Alexander Ploss, Wesley Hottel, et al. (2025) 2025. “Characterization of Serotype-Specific Dengue Virus T Cell Inhibition”. The Journal of Infectious Diseases. doi:10.1093/infdis/jiaf241.

Kulakova, Liudmila, Kiki H Li, Austin W T Chiang, Michael P Schwoerer, Saori Suzuki, Sanne Schoffelen, Khadija H Elkholy, et al. (2025) 2025. “Glycoengineering of the Hepatitis C Virus E2 Glycoprotein Improves Biochemical Properties and Enhances Immunogenicity”. NPJ Vaccines 10 (1): 121. doi:10.1038/s41541-025-01161-6.

Gomez-Moreno, Andoni, Daniel Bradley, and Alexander Ploss. (2025) 2025. “Building Hepatitis B Virus Gene Transcription from the Bottom up”. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.). doi:10.1097/HEP.0000000000001437.

2024

Nelson, Amy, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Emerging Mosquito-Borne Flaviviruses”. MBio 15 (12): e0294624. doi:10.1128/mbio.02946-24.

Lin, Aaron E, Emily Mesev V, Jared E Toettcher, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Engineered Chimeric Receptors for Dissecting Interferon Signaling”. Journal of Virology 98 (10): e0168023. doi:10.1128/jvi.01680-23.

Gomez-Moreno, Andoni, Jinchao Guo, Heidi Temple, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Formation and Transcriptional Regulation of Hepatitis B Virus Covalently Closed Circular DNA”. Journal of Hepatology 81 (2): 367-69. doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2024.03.008.

Ciupe, Stanca, Harel Dahari, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Mathematical Models of Early Hepatitis B Virus Dynamics in Humanized Mice”. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology 86 (5): 53. doi:10.1007/s11538-024-01284-2.

Hartmann, Jordan, Marcella Cardoso, Maria Talarico, Devin Kenney, Madison Leone, Dagny Reese, Jacquelyn Turcinovic, et al. (2024) 2024. “Evasion of NKG2D-Mediated Cytotoxic Immunity by Sarbecoviruses”. Cell 187 (10): 2393-2410.e14. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2024.03.026.

Moreno, Jorge, Olga Dudchenko, Charles Feigin, Sarah Mereby, Zhuoxin Chen, Raul Ramos, Axel Almet, et al. (2024) 2024. “Emx2 Underlies the Development and Evolution of Marsupial Gliding Membranes”. Nature 629 (8010): 127-35. doi:10.1038/s41586-024-07305-3.

Gomez-Moreno, Andoni, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Mechanisms of Hepatitis B Virus CccDNA and Minichromosome Formation and HBV Gene Transcription”. Viruses 16 (4): 609. doi:10.3390/v16040609.

, Lena Allweiss, Chari Cohen, Joao Dias, Valeria Fumagalli, Haitao Guo, James Harris, et al. (2024) 2024. “Highlights from the 2023 International Meeting on the Molecular Biology of Hepatitis B Virus”. The Journal of General Virology 105 (5). doi:10.1099/jgv.0.001978.

Liu, Yongzhen, Stephanie Maya, Sebastian Carver, Aoife O’Connell, Anna Tseng, Hans Gertje, Kathleen Seneca, Ronald Nahass, Nicholas Crossland, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “Development of a Dual Channel Detection System for Pan-Genotypic Simultaneous Quantification of Hepatitis B and Delta Viruses”. Emerging Microbes & Infections 13 (1): 2350167. doi:10.1080/22221751.2024.2350167.

Wißing, Michael, Toni Meister, Maximilian Nocke, André Gömer, Mejrema Masovic, Leonard Knegendorf, Yannick Brüggemann, et al. (2024) 2024. “Genetic Determinants of Host- and Virus-Derived Insertions for Hepatitis E Virus Replication”. Nature Communications 15 (1): 4855. doi:10.1038/s41467-024-49219-8.

Berggren, Keith, Robert Schwartz, Ralph Kleiner, and Alexander Ploss. (2024) 2024. “The Impact of Epitranscriptomic Modifications on Liver Disease”. Trends in Endocrinology and Metabolism: TEM, 331-46. doi:10.1016/j.tem.2023.12.007.

2023

Mesev, Emily, V, Emma G Guare, Alexander Ploss, and Jared E Toettcher. (2023) 2023. “Synthetic Heterodimers of Type III Interferon Receptors Require TYK2 for STAT Activation”. Journal of Interferon & Cytokine Research : The Official Journal of the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research 43 (9): 414-26. doi:10.1089/jir.2023.0039.

Mesev, Emily, V, Aaron E Lin, Emma G Guare, Brigitte L Heller, Florian Douam, Britt Adamson, Jared E Toettcher, and Alexander Ploss. (2023) 2023. “Membrane-Proximal Motifs Encode Differences in Signaling Strength Between Type I and III Interferon Receptors.”. Science Signaling 16 (806): eadf5494. doi:10.1126/scisignal.adf5494.

Testoni, Barbara, and Alexander Ploss. (2023) 2023. “Cracking the Host Functional Network Involved in Hepatitis B Virus CccDNA Biology”. Gut 72 (9): 1637-39. doi:10.1136/gutjnl-2022-329185.

LeDesma, Robert, Brigitte Heller, Abhishek Biswas, Stephanie Maya, Stefania Gili, John Higgins, and Alexander Ploss. (2023) 2023. “Structural Features Stabilized by Divalent Cation Coordination Within Hepatitis E Virus ORF1 Are Critical for Viral Replication”. ELife 12. doi:10.7554/eLife.80529.

Liu, Yongzhen, Thomas Cafiero, Debby Park, Abhishek Biswas, Benjamin Winer, Cheul Cho, Yaron Bram, et al. (2023) 2023. “Targeted Viral Adaptation Generates a Simian-Tropic Hepatitis B Virus That Infects Marmoset Cells”. Nature Communications 14 (1): 3582. doi:10.1038/s41467-023-39148-3.

Hogan, Glenn, Benjamin Winer, James Ahodantin, Julie Sellau, Tiffany Huang, Florian Douam, Masaya Funaki, Luis Chiriboga, Lishan Su, and Alexander Ploss. (2023) 2023. “Persistent Hepatitis B Virus and HIV Coinfections in Dually Humanized Mice Engrafted With Human Liver and Immune System”. Journal of Medical Virology 95 (7): e28930. doi:10.1002/jmv.28930.

Johnson, Matthew, Sha Li, Christian Guerrero-Juarez, Pearson Miller, Benjamin Brack, Sarah Mereby, Jorge Moreno, et al. (2023) 2023. “A Multifunctional Wnt Regulator Underlies the Evolution of Rodent Stripe Patterns”. Nature Ecology & Evolution 7 (12): 2143-59. doi:10.1038/s41559-023-02213-7.

Maya, Stephanie, Leeor Hershkovich, Fabian Cardozo-Ojeda, Elham Shirvani-Dastgerdi, Jay Srinivas, Louis Shekhtman, Susan Uprichard, et al. (2023) 2023. “Hepatitis Delta Virus RNA Decline Post-Inoculation in Human NTCP Transgenic Mice Is Biphasic”. MBio 14 (4): e0100823. doi:10.1128/mbio.01008-23.

2022

Shekhtman, Louis, Scott Cotler, Alexander Ploss, and Harel Dahari. (2022) 2022. “Mathematical Modeling Suggests That Entry-Inhibitor Bulevirtide May Interfere With Hepatitis D Virus Clearance from Circulation.”. Journal of Hepatology 76 (5): 1229-31. doi:10.1016/j.jhep.2021.12.030.

Suzuki, Saori, Jacob Geri, Steve Knutson, Harris Bell-Temin, Tomokazu Tamura, David Fernández, Gabrielle Lovett, et al. (2022) 2022. “Photochemical Identification of Auxiliary Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus 2 Host Entry Factors Using μMap.”. Journal of the American Chemical Society 144 (36): 16604-11. doi:10.1021/jacs.2c06806.

Wei, Lei, and Alexander Ploss. (2022) 2022. “Rise above the Stress-Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress and Autophagy Enhance the Release of Hepatitis B Virus Subparticles.”. Hepatology (Baltimore, Md.) 75 (2): 248-51. doi:10.1002/hep.32273.

Tamura, Tomokazu, Jiayu Zhang, Vrinda Madan, Abhishek Biswas, Michael Schwoerer, Thomas Cafiero, Brigitte L Heller, Wei Wang, and Alexander Ploss. (2022) 2022. “Generation and Characterization of Genetically and Antigenically Diverse Infectious Clones of Dengue Virus Serotypes 1-4.”. Emerging Microbes & Infections 11 (1): 227-39. doi:10.1080/22221751.2021.2021808.

Wang, Ruixue, Saori Suzuki, Johnathan Guest, Brigitte Heller, Maricar Almeda, Alexander Andrianov, Alexander Marin, et al. (2022) 2022. “Induction of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies Using a Secreted Form of the Hepatitis C Virus E1E2 Heterodimer As a Vaccine Candidate.”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119 (11): e2112008119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2112008119.

Buksh, Benito, Steve Knutson, James Oakley V, Noah Bissonnette, Daniel Oblinsky, Michael Schwoerer, Ciaran Seath, et al. (2022) 2022. “μMap-Red: Proximity Labeling by Red Light Photocatalysis.”. Journal of the American Chemical Society 144 (14): 6154-62. doi:10.1021/jacs.2c01384.

Kenney, Devin, Aoife O’Connell, Jacquelyn Turcinovic, Paige Montanaro, Ryan Hekman, Tomokazu Tamura, Andrew Berneshawi, et al. (2022) 2022. “Humanized Mice Reveal a Macrophage-Enriched Gene Signature Defining Human Lung Tissue Protection During SARS-CoV-2 Infection.”. Cell Reports 39 (3): 110714. doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2022.110714.

Biswas, Sreya, Lauren Rust, Jochen Wettengel, Sofiya Yusova, Miranda Fischer, Julien Carson, Josie Johnson, et al. (2022) 2022. “Long-Term Hepatitis B Virus Infection of Rhesus Macaques Requires Suppression of Host Immunity.”. Nature Communications 13 (1): 2995. doi:10.1038/s41467-022-30593-0.

Liu, Yongzhen, Debby Park, Thomas Cafiero, Yaron Bram, Vasuretha Chandar, Anna Tseng, Hans Gertje, et al. (2022) 2022. “Molecular Clones of Genetically Distinct Hepatitis B Virus Genotypes Reveal Distinct Host and Drug Treatment Responses.”. JHEP Reports : Innovation in Hepatology 4 (9): 100535. doi:10.1016/j.jhepr.2022.100535.

Wei, Lei, Thomas Cafiero, Anna Tseng, Hans Gertje, Andrew Berneshawi, Nicholas Crossland, and Alexander Ploss. (2022) 2022. “Conversion of Hepatitis B Virus Relaxed Circular to Covalently Closed Circular DNA Is Supported in Murine Cells.”. JHEP Reports : Innovation in Hepatology 4 (9): 100534. doi:10.1016/j.jhepr.2022.100534.

Schwoerer, Michael, and Alexander Ploss. (2022) 2022. “Barriers to Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Mice.”. Current Opinion in Virology 56: 101273. doi:10.1016/j.coviro.2022.101273.

Douam, Florian, and Alexander Ploss. (2022) 2022. “A Humanized ‘new-Trophil’ Mouse to Study Early Inflammatory Processes.”. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 119 (49): e2216699119. doi:10.1073/pnas.2216699119.

R, Wang, Suzuki S, Guest JD, Heller B, Almeda M, Andrianov AK, Marin A, et al. 2022. “Induction of Broadly Neutralizing Antibodies Using a Secreted Form of the Hepatitis C Virus E1E2 Heterodimer As a Vaccine Candidate”. Proc Natl Acad Șci USA. Referenced from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

T, Tamura, Zhang J, Madan V, Biswas A, Schwoerer M, Cafiero TR, Heller BL, Wang W, and Ploss A. 2022. “Generation and Characterization of Genetically and Antigenically Diverse Infectious Clones of Dengue Virus Serotypes 1-4”. Emerging Microbes & Infections. Referenced from www.tandfonline.com.

2021

Ploss, Alexander, Hélène Strick-Marchand, and Wenhui Li. (2021) 2021. “Animal Models for Hepatitis B: Does the Supply Meet the Demand?”. Gastroenterology 160 (5): 1437-42. doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2020.11.056.

Zakh, Rami, Alexander Churkin, William Bietsch, Menachem Lachiany, Scott Cotler, Alexander Ploss, Harel Dahari, and Danny Barash. (2021) 2021. “A Mathematical Model for Early HBV and -HDV Kinetics During Anti-HDV Treatment.”. Mathematics (Basel, Switzerland) 9 (24). doi:10.3390/math9243323.

Sanders, David, Chanelle Jumper, Paul Ackerman, Dan Bracha, Anita Donlic, Hahn Kim, Devin Kenney, et al. (2021) 2021. “SARS-CoV-2 Requires Cholesterol for Viral Entry and Pathological Syncytia Formation.”. ELife 10. doi:10.7554/eLife.65962.

Nimgaonkar, Ila, Nicholas Archer, Isabelle Becher, Mohammad Shahrad, Robert LeDesma, André Mateus, Javier Caballero-Gómez, et al. (2021) 2021. “Isocotoin Suppresses Hepatitis E Virus Replication through Inhibition of Heat Shock Protein 90.”. Antiviral Research 185: 104997. doi:10.1016/j.antiviral.2020.104997.

Wei, and Ploss A. 2021. “Mechanism of Hepatitis B Virus CccDNA Formation”. Viruses. Referenced from www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Wei, Lei, and Alexander Ploss. 2021. “Hepatitis B Virus CccDNA Is Formed through Distinct Repair Processes of Each Strand”. Nature Communications. Referenced from www.nature.com.

Liu, Maya S, and Ploss A. 2021. “Animal Models of Hepatitis B Virus Infection-Success, Challenges, and Future Directions”. Viruses. Referenced from www.mdpi.com.

2020

Brown, Richard, Birthe Tegtmeyer, Julie Sheldon, Tanvi Khera, , Daniel Todt, Gabrielle Vieyres, et al. (2020) 2020. “Liver-Expressed and Limit Hepatitis C Virus Cross-Species Transmission to Mice.”. Science Advances 6 (45). doi:10.1126/sciadv.abd3233.

Ramanathan, Harish, Shuo Zhang, Florian Douam, Katrina Mar, Jinhong Chang, Priscilla Yang, John Schoggins, Alexander Ploss, and Brett Lindenbach. (2020) 2020. “A Sensitive Yellow Fever Virus Entry Reporter Identifies Valosin-Containing Protein (VCP P97) As an Essential Host Factor for Flavivirus Uncoating.”. MBio 11 (2). doi:10.1128/mBio.00467-20.

Winer, Benjamin, Kimberly Edgel, Xiaoyan Zou, Julie Sellau, Sri Hadiwidjojo, Lindsey Garver, Christin McDonough, et al. (2020) 2020. “Identification of Plasmodium Falciparum Proteoforms from Liver Stage Models.”. Malaria Journal 19 (1): 10. doi:10.1186/s12936-019-3093-3.

Akkina, Ramesh, Daniel Barber, Moses Bility, Karl-Dimiter Bissig, Benjamin Burwitz, Katrin Eichelberg, Janice Endsley, et al. (2020) 2020. “Small Animal Models for Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), Hepatitis B, and Tuberculosis: Proceedings of an NIAID Workshop.”. Current HIV Research 18 (1): 19-28. doi:10.2174/1570162X18666191223114019.