Expertise
Ebola Virus, Marburg Virus, Influenza Virus, SARS-CoV-2 and Emerging Viruses
Bio
A world-renowned leader in the study of emerging viruses, Basler has spent the past 20 years focused on Ebola. Now he’s applying what he’s learned to the novel coronavirus, known as SARS-CoV-2. His major research interests are immune evasion and replication mechanisms of filoviruses, which include Ebola, Marburg virus and other emerging RNA viruses.His lab has pioneered efforts to define at the molecular level how filoviruses, highly pathogenic viruses of concern as emerging pathogens and bioterrorism agents, evade innate antiviral defenses. His work on innate immune evasion mechanisms encoded by Ebola and Marburg viruses uncovered functions critical for the severity of filovirus disease and has had significant influence on research directions and therapeutic approaches pursued by the filovirus field. His research on pandemic influenza viruses has included significant contributions to the reconstruction and characterization of the 1918 pandemic influenza virus, a virus that killed an estimated 50 million people in 1918-19.