Research:

Key words: Immune evasion, immunovirology, computational biology, neutralizing antibodies, host-pathogen interaction, hepatitis, HIV.

Our laboratory is involved in determining the links between viral sequence variation and viral disease pathogenesis. The major focus is on sequence variation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) during acute infection, the host immune mechanisms that drive sequence variation, and the degree to which that sequence variation is a mechanism for viral persistence. These investigations are in turn linked to our studies of the cellular and humoral immune responses to HCV infection, including T cell receptor gene rearrangements, and in vitro neutralization assays using novel particles (both newly- isolated and computationally-generated). The immunological work is a long-term collaborative effort with Dr. Andrea Cox, and with Justin Bailey who recently became a faculty member and leads the humoral work. The sequence analysis has required development of novel sequence analysis software, as well as long-amplicon amplification and sequencing techniques. We also collaborate in analyses of sequence variation of other pathogens, including human immunodeficiency virus (collaboration with Dr. Siliciano) and hepatitis B virus. In 2015 we launched the Laboratory for Integrated NanoDiagnostics, for which I oversee faculty at JHMI and JHU Homewood in 4 scientific pathways that comprise colorimetric assays, fluorimetric assays, nucleic acid quantitation, and lens-free cell imaging.

Publications and Interests: https://jhu.pure.elsevier.com/en/persons/stuart-campbell-ray