Karen Mossman

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Karen Mossman
Alma materUniversity of Alberta (PhD)
University of Guelph (BSc)
Scientific career
InstitutionsMcMaster University
ThesisStudies of immunosuppressive poxviruses. (1996)

Karen Louise Mossman is a Canadian virologist who is a professor of Pathology and Molecular Medicine at McMaster University. Mossman looks to understand how viruses get around the defence mechanisms of cells. She was part of a team of Canadian researchers who first isolated SARS-CoV-2.

Early life and education

Mossman studied molecular biology at the University of Guelph.[1] She moved the University of Alberta for her graduate degree, where she studied poxviridae in the laboratory of Grant McFadden.[1][2][3] She remained in the University of Alberta for the postdoctoral training, where she specialised in microbiology.[1]

Career

Mossman joined McMaster University in 2001.[4] In 2006 she was awarded the International Society for Interferon and Cytokine Research Christina Fleischmann Award.[5] She served as Chair of the Department of Biochemistry from 2017. In 2019 Mossman was named the Associate Vice President of McMaster University.[4][6] She looks to understand how viruses can elude the immune system of cells, including normal and cancer cells.[1][7] She hopes to use this understanding to design novel antivirals and cancer therapies.[8]

McMaster University has a large collections of bats, which harbour more zoonotic diseases than any other mammals. To tackle these infections, bats attempt to limit viral replication and the associated immunopathology.[9] Mossman has studied how bats respond to disease, and identified that they have enhanced IRF3 antiviral responses.[9][10] As the antiviral response of bats is considerably more active than that of humans, viruses which infect bats generate more viral proteins than typical viruses. As a result, when bat viruses infect humans cells, the immune response can be quickly overwhelmed.[11] It was speculated that bats could serve as reservoirs of emerging coronaviruses.[12] Mossman has studied the pathogenesis of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome.[13][14]

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Mossman was part of a team of Canadian researchers who isolated the genome of SARS-CoV-2. To isolate a virus, samples are collected from infected patients, then provided an opportunity to grow in mammalian cells or on culture plates.[15] To isolate SARS-CoV-2, Mossman and her laboratory cultured the virus on immunodeficient cells. In these cells, the virus was able to multiply at ease.[16][17]

The isolated virus should allow for the development of a COVID-19 vaccine.[18] In general, vaccinations for coronaviruses are difficult to create.[13] As many coronaviruses exist in nature, their genetic recombination can result in the formation of novel viruses,[19] making targets for vaccinations difficult to identify. Even when they are identified, the vaccinations can exacerbate the symptoms of disease, compromising the immune system of vaccinated patients.[13][20] Like other coronaviruses, the SARS-CoV-2 that infects humans is remarkably similar to a coronavirus found in bats. In late March 2020 Mossman was funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to study the pathogenesis of SARS-CoV-2 in human and bat cells, in an effort to create in vitro and in vivo models of infection.[21] By understanding the antiviral responses of the spillover (human) and reservoir (bat) host cells, Mossman hopes to create animal models that permit the rapid testing of candidate vaccinations.

Selected publications

Books

  • Mossman, Karen (2011). Viruses and interferon : current research. Wymondham. ISBN 9781904455813.
  • Mossman, Karen (2017). Innate Antiviral Immunity. Springer. ISBN 978-1-4939-7237-1.

Papers

Mossman serves on the editorial board of PLOS Pathogens, PLOS One and the Journal of Virology.[5]

References

Scholia has an author profile for Karen Mossman.
  1. ^ a b c d "Lab members". Mossman Lab. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  2. ^ Mossman, Karen Louise (1998). Studies of immunosuppressive poxviruses (Thesis). Ottawa: National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada. OCLC 46556232.
  3. ^ Research, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical (2018-10-15). "Professor Karen Mossman - McMaster University". Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  4. ^ a b "Karen Mossman named acting vice-president, research". Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  5. ^ a b "PeerJ - Profile - Karen Mossman". peerj.com. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  6. ^ "Karen Mossman - McMaster Experts". experts.mcmaster.ca. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  7. ^ Schulz, Katharina S.; Mossman, Karen L. (2016). "Viral Evasion Strategies in Type I IFN Signaling - A Summary of Recent Developments". Frontiers in Immunology. 7: 498. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2016.00498. ISSN 1664-3224. PMC 5104748. PMID 27891131.
  8. ^ Collins, Susan E.; Mossman, Karen L. (2014-10-01). "Danger, diversity and priming in innate antiviral immunity". Cytokine & Growth Factor Reviews. Special Issue: Innate Sensing and Response to Pathogens. 25 (5): 525–531. doi:10.1016/j.cytogfr.2014.07.002. ISSN 1359-6101. PMID 25081316.
  9. ^ a b Banerjee, Arinjay; Zhang, Xi; Yip, Alyssa; Schulz, Katharina S.; Irving, Aaron T.; Bowdish, Dawn; Golding, Brian; Wang, Lin-Fa; Mossman, Karen (2020-03-27). "Positive Selection of a Serine Residue in Bat IRF3 Confers Enhanced Antiviral Protection". iScience. 23 (3): 100958. Bibcode:2020iSci...23j0958B. doi:10.1016/j.isci.2020.100958. ISSN 2589-0042. PMC 7075978. PMID 32179480.
  10. ^ Banerjee, Arinjay; Baker, Michelle L.; Kulcsar, Kirsten; Misra, Vikram; Plowright, Raina; Mossman, Karen (2020). "Novel Insights Into Immune Systems of Bats". Frontiers in Immunology. 11: 26. doi:10.3389/fimmu.2020.00026. ISSN 1664-3224. PMC 7025585. PMID 32117225.
  11. ^ Banerjee, Arinjay; Mossman, Karen (23 November 2017). "Can bats help humans survive the next pandemic?". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  12. ^ Banerjee, Arinjay; Kulcsar, Kirsten; Misra, Vikram; Frieman, Matthew; Mossman, Karen (2019-01-09). "Bats and Coronaviruses". Viruses. 11 (1): 41. doi:10.3390/v11010041. ISSN 1999-4915. PMC 6356540. PMID 30634396.
  13. ^ a b c Banerjee, Arinjay; Baid, Kaushal; Mossman, Karen (2019-09-01). "Molecular Pathogenesis of Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS) Coronavirus". Current Clinical Microbiology Reports. 6 (3): 139–147. doi:10.1007/s40588-019-00122-7. ISSN 2196-5471. PMC 7100557. PMID 32226718.
  14. ^ Nizam, Fazmin (2012-04-03). "MERS: A Q&A with McMaster's Dr. Karen Mossman | IIDR". McMaster IIDR. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  15. ^ Dr. Karen Mossman discusses what isolating a virus means, 2020-03-13, retrieved 2020-04-08
  16. ^ Mossman, Karen (25 March 2020). "I study viruses: How our team isolated the new coronavirus to fight the global pandemic". The Conversation. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  17. ^ "Arinjay Banerjee: Meet the Indian-origin scientist who helped isolate the coronavirus - Big breakthrough". The Economic Times. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  18. ^ "Is a coronavirus vaccine on the way? | Watch News Videos Online". Global News. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
  19. ^ Su, Shuo; Wong, Gary; Shi, Weifeng; Liu, Jun; Lai, Alexander C.K.; Zhou, Jiyong; Liu, Wenjun; Bi, Yuhai; Gao, George F. (1 June 2016). "Epidemiology, Genetic Recombination, and Pathogenesis of Coronaviruses". Trends in Microbiology. 24 (6): 490–502. doi:10.1016/j.tim.2016.03.003. PMC 7125511. PMID 27012512.
  20. ^ Tseng, Chien-Te; Sbrana, Elena; Iwata-Yoshikawa, Naoko; Newman, Patrick C.; Garron, Tania; Atmar, Robert L.; Peters, Clarence J.; Couch, Robert B. (2012-04-20). Poehlmann, Stefan (ed.). "Immunization with SARS Coronavirus Vaccines Leads to Pulmonary Immunopathology on Challenge with the SARS Virus". PLOS ONE. 7 (4): e35421. Bibcode:2012PLoSO...735421T. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0035421. ISSN 1932-6203. PMC 3335060. PMID 22536382.
  21. ^ Research, Canadian Institutes of Health (2020-03-19). "Government of Canada funds 49 additional COVID-19 research projects – Details of the funded projects". gcnws. Retrieved 2020-04-08.
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