The Geisbert laboratory focuses on the pathogenesis of emerging and re-emerging viruses that require Biosafety level (BSL)-4 containment and on the development of countermeasures against these viruses. Our work particularly emphasizes studies on viruses causing hemorrhagic fever (HF) including Ebola virus, Marburg virus, and Lassa virus. Efforts focus on developing, refining and characterizing animal models that accurately reproduce human viral HF infection and identifying critical pathogenic processes of viral HF infections that could be exploited as targets for therapeutic interventions. Particular emphasis is placed on determining the basis of coagulopathy and shock that characterize HF viral infections and measuring the therapeutic benefits of interrupting pathogenic processes that are important in the development of HF viral infection.
