Kartik Chandran, PhD
Advisory Board
Medical Instruction
Kartik Chandran, Ph.D. is professor of microbiology and immunology at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, where he oversees a team of researchers investigating the molecular mechanisms of infection by emerging viruses and the development of countermeasures against these agents (www.chandranlab.org). Dr. Chandran’s research has focused on filoviruses, including Ebola virus and Marburg virus, since 2003. His group’s key achievements include the discovery of NPC1 as the essential host receptor for all filoviruses and the development of both natural and engineered antibodies as anti-filovirus therapeutics. More recently, the Chandran Lab has expanded its efforts to other neglected emerging viruses, including hantaviruses and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus.
Dr. Chandran’s work on filovirus and hantavirus receptors and anti-filovirus antibody therapeutics has been featured in leading journals, including Cell, Nature, and Science. He received his B.S. in Biochemistry at Lafayette College in Easton, PA, and his Ph.D. in Biochemistry at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Focus on Emerging Viruses
As our world grows more interconnected and humans impinge on the few remaining wild habitats, infections caused by the accidental transmission of viruses from their natural animal hosts to humans are increasingly of concern. The unprecedented 2013–2015 Ebola virus disease epidemic in western Africa provides a particularly apt example. Few specific antiviral treatments are available for Ebola and other emerging agents, and our ability to develop them is challenged by a poor understanding of exactly how viruses co-opt our own cells at the molecular level. Dr. Chandran leads the Chandran Lab’s coordination with partners on three continents to understand this molecular warfare between virus and cell, and to apply what they learn to the development of antiviral treatments.
– Albert Einstein College of Medicine
FUN FACT:
Kartik’s stories about his college days sound like he may have been the inspiration for the movie “Top Secret!”