Dr. Nicole D. Tischler

Dr. Nicole D. Tischler is dedicated to the study of viral spike proteins in terms of their function during and viral cell entry and exit, as well as on their antigenic properties for neutralizing antibody binding. The major model viruses on which she focuses are enveloped viruses, particularly the human pathogenic hantaviruses and also from the archaea domain of life. In particular, she and her group have established hantavirus-like particles and lentivirus vectors and tools to study those viruses. With her group and collaborators, she has deciphered the molecular mechanism of hantavirus:cell membrane fusion, a member of acid-activated class II fusion proteins. She has also supported structural studies on the hantavirus spikes in terms of site-directed mutagenesis and spike engineering for their structural stabilization. Her lab has also described, for the first time, that the fusion protein of pleolipoviruses infecting haloarchaea can be triggered by a component of an S layer extract acts. During the COVID-19 pandemic, she was additionally involved in clinical studies to describe neutralizing antibody responses longitudinally in naturally infected severe and moderate patients, and also in naïve individuals vaccinated with the CoronaVac or BTN162b2 vaccines.