Rohit K. Jangra, PhD, MVSc, BVSc & AH (≍DVM)
Assistant Professor of Microbiology and Immunology
BVSc & AH (≍DVM) - Veterinary Medicine, 2002, CCS Haryana Agricultural University, Hisar, Haryana, India
MVSc - Veterinary Virology, 2004, Indian Veterinary Research Institute, Izatnagar, UP, India
PhD - Microbiology and Immunology, 2010, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas
Post-Doctoral Fellow - Microbiology, 2010-12, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, New York, NY
Post-Doctoral Fellow - Microbiology and Immunology, 2012-17, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
Research Assistant Professor - Microbiology and Immunology, 2017-21, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY
News
October 29, 2022
Nahomi Guerra wins the best poster award at ASM-SCB 2022 in the PhD student category!
Lohit Khera wins the best poster award at ASM-SCB 2022 in the postdoc category!
October 27-29, 2022
Cierra, Lohit, Nahomi & Rohit present their research at ASM-SCB 2022 meeting
September 28, 2022
Upendra Lambe joins as a postdoc!
September 12, 2022
Ramandeep Kaur joins as a postdoc!
June 6, 2022
Annushka Noor joins as a Summer Undergraduate Student!
April 6, 2022
Jangra Lab joins NIH-funded CAIPP CoBRE grant!
January 26, 2022
Jangra Lab gets an R21 grant from the NIH!
December 10, 2021
Nahomi Guerra joins as a PhD Student!
December 10, 2021
Cierra Word joins as a PhD student!
September 15, 2021
Lohit Khera joins as a postdoc!
Research
Hantaviruses & Coronaviruses
Carried by rodents and bats, the two largest groups of mammals on the planet, hantaviruses and coronaviruses pose high risk of animal-to-human (zoonotic) spillover. We seek to understand the molecular compatibilities, or lack thereof, which determine the ability of these deadly viruses to infect and replicate in human and non-human cells.
Using BSL2 surrogate systems (and eventual confirmation with the authentic virus agents, whenever possible), we plan to define the viral and host determinants of virus entry and infection at the molecular level.
(Re)-Emerging RNA Virus Entry & Replication
The long-term goal of the Jangra Lab is to delineate the molecular determinants of host susceptibility (capacity for virus entry) and permissiveness (capacity for virus replication) of (Re)-Emerging RNA viruses such as hantaviruses and coronaviruses. Carried by a variety of animals, including rodents and bats, these viruses pose significant global public health risk and have a high likelihood of zoonotic spillover. The requirement for biosafety level-3 (BSL-3) containment and lack of authentic isolates for a majority of these viruses has limited research on them. Surrogate viruses such as recombinant vesicular stomatitis viruses (rVSVs) pseudotyped with heterologous entry glycoproteins provide excellent tools for investigating virus entry and virus-host interactions at BSL-2. We have used such rVSVs to discover protocadherin-1 (PCDH1) as a novel receptor for the entry of New World hantaviruses. My lab will utilize and build upon these tools and methods to define the molecular mechanisms of virus entry and to better understand the antiviral immune responses. This knowledge can eventually be harnessed to develop prophylactic and therapeutic interventions against these viruses, whose spillover is predicted to increase due to climate change and increased overlap of human and reservoir species.
Publications
Selected Publications
-
Haslwanter D, Dieterle ME, Wec AZ, O'Brien CM, Sakharkar M, Florez C, Tong K, Rappazzo CG, Lasso G, Vergnolle O, Wirchnianski AS, Bortz RH 3rd, Laudermilch E, Fels JM, Mengotto A, Malonis RJ, Georgiev GI, Quiroz JA, Wrapp D, Wang N, Dye KE, Barnhill J, Dye JM, McLellan JS, Daily JP, Lai JR, Herbert AS, Walker LM, Chandran K, Jangra RK. A Combination of Receptor-Binding Domain and N-Terminal Domain Neutralizing Antibodies Limits the Generation of SARS-CoV-2 Spike Neutralization-Escape Mutants. mBio. 2021 Oct 26;12(5):e0247321. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02473-21. Epub 2021 Oct 5. PubMed PMID: 34607456; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8546647.
- Dieterle ME, Solà-Riera C, Ye C, Goodfellow SM, Mittler E, Kasikci E, Bradfute SB, Klingström J, Jangra RK, Chandran K. Genetic depletion studies inform receptor usage by virulent hantaviruses in human endothelial cells. Elife. 2021 Jul 6;10. doi: 10.7554/eLife.69708. PubMed PMID: 34232859; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC8263056.
- Dieterle ME, Haslwanter D, Bortz RH 3rd, Wirchnianski AS, Lasso G, Vergnolle O, Abbasi SA, Fels JM, Laudermilch E, Florez C, Mengotto A, Kimmel D, Malonis RJ, Georgiev G, Quiroz J, Barnhill J, Pirofski LA, Daily JP, Dye JM, Lai JR, Herbert AS, Chandran K, Jangra RK. A Replication-Competent Vesicular Stomatitis Virus for Studies of SARS-CoV-2 Spike-Mediated Cell Entry and Its Inhibition. Cell Host Microbe. 2020 Sep 9;28(3):486-496.e6. doi: 10.1016/j.chom.2020.06.020. Epub 2020 Jul 3. PubMed PMID: 32738193; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC7332447.
- Mittler E, Dieterle ME, Kleinfelter LM, Slough MM, Chandran K, Jangra RK. Hantavirus entry: Perspectives and recent advances. Adv Virus Res. 2019;104:185-224. doi: 10.1016/bs.aivir.2019.07.002. Epub 2019 Aug 7. PubMed PMID: 31439149; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6881143.
- Slough MM, Chandran K, Jangra RK. Two Point Mutations in Old World Hantavirus Glycoproteins Afford the Generation of Highly Infectious Recombinant Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Vectors. mBio. 2019 Jan 8;10(1). doi: 10.1128/mBio.02372-18. PubMed PMID: 30622188; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6325249.
- Jangra RK, Herbert AS, Li R, Jae LT, Kleinfelter LM, Slough MM, Barker SL, Guardado-Calvo P, Román-Sosa G, Dieterle ME, Kuehne AI, Muena NA, Wirchnianski AS, Nyakatura EK, Fels JM, Ng M, Mittler E, Pan J, Bharrhan S, Wec AZ, Lai JR, Sidhu SS, Tischler ND, Rey FA, Moffat J, Brummelkamp TR, Wang Z, Dye JM, Chandran K. Protocadherin-1 is essential for cell entry by New World hantaviruses. Nature. 2018 Nov;563(7732):559-563. doi: 10.1038/s41586-018-0702-1. Epub 2018 Nov 21. PubMed PMID: 30464266; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC6556216.
- Kleinfelter LM, Jangra RK, Jae LT, Herbert AS, Mittler E, Stiles KM, Wirchnianski AS, Kielian M, Brummelkamp TR, Dye JM, Chandran K. Haploid Genetic Screen Reveals a Profound and Direct Dependence on Cholesterol for Hantavirus Membrane Fusion. mBio. 2015 Jun 30;6(4):e00801. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00801-15. PubMed PMID: 26126854; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC4488941.
- Jangra RK, Mittler E, Chandran K. Filovirus entry into susceptible cells. In: Pattnaik AK, Whitt MA, editors. Biology and Pathogenesis of Rhabdo- and filoviruses [Internet] USA: World Scientific Publishing Company; 2015. Chapter 19; p.487-514. Available from: https://doi.org/10.1142/9394.
-
Shimakami T, Yamane D, Jangra RK, Kempf BJ, Spaniel C, Barton DJ, Lemon SM. Stabilization of hepatitis C virus RNA by an Ago2-miR-122 complex. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2012 Jan 17;109(3):941-6. doi: 10.1073/pnas.1112263109. Epub 2012 Jan 3. PubMed PMID: 22215596; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC3271899.
-
Jangra RK, Yi M, Lemon SM. DDX6 (Rck/p54) is required for efficient hepatitis C virus replication but not for internal ribosome entry site-directed translation. J Virol. 2010 Jul;84(13):6810-24. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00397-10. Epub 2010 Apr 14. PubMed PMID: 20392846; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2903299.
-
Jangra RK, Yi M, Lemon SM. Regulation of hepatitis C virus translation and infectious virus production by the microRNA miR-122. J Virol. 2010 Jul;84(13):6615-25. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00417-10. Epub 2010 Apr 28. PubMed PMID: 20427538; PubMed Central PMCID: PMC2903297.
- Jangra RK, Tosh C, Sanyal A, Hemadri D, Bandyopadhyay SK. Antigenic and genetic analyses of foot-and-mouth disease virus type A isolates for selection of candidate vaccine strain reveals emergence of a variant virus that is responsible for most recent outbreaks in India. Virus Res. 2005 Sep;112(1-2):52-9. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2005.03.021. Epub 2005 Apr 25. PubMed PMID: 16022900.
Complete List of my Published Work in MyBibliography: LEARN MORE
TEAM
Ramandeep Kaur, PhD, MTech, BTech
Upendra P. Lambe, PhD
Nahomi G. Pilaquinga
Positions
Post-doctoral Fellows
While we are not currently recruiting Post-doctoral Fellows, quality candidates will always be considered. To enquire about opportunities, contact Dr. Jangra at Rohit.Jangra@lsuhs.edu.
Graduate Students
Graduate students interested in conducting research in the Orr lab should review the current laboratory research directions and contact Dr. Jangra at Rohit.Jangra@lsuhs.edu.
Undergraduate Research Assistants
We are not currently hiring any additional undergraduates.
CONTACT
Contact Us
LSU Health Shreveport
Department of Microbiology & Immunology
1501 Kings Hwy
Shreveport, LA 71103
Email:
Rohit.Jangra@lsuhs.edu
Office: 318-675-4707