Moscona Lab

image of viral entry

Location and Contact Information

701 West 168th Street
Hammer Health Sciences Building, HHSC13-02
New York, NY 10032
United States
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Principal Investigator

Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction

The Moscona Lab is focused on understanding how enveloped viruses enter cells, and on using this understanding to prevent viral infection. The lab is organized around the interdisciplinary theme of virus-host interactions.

Dr. Moscona co-directs the Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction with Dr. Matteo Porotto, with the aim of fostering interdisciplinary research at the human-pathogen interface and stimulating interactions among various departments and disciplines. Projects draw from strategies and methods of molecular biology, cell biology, biophysics, computational biology, structural biology, and virology, and may use human tissue models or animal models of human disease to answer questions about viral infection. The lab conducts basic research on paramyxoviruses that cause serious and prevalent childhood diseases, and on newly emerging paramyxoviruses that affect humans. The focus is on the mechanisms of viral entry into host cells, in the intial stages of infection.

As a basic scientist and a pediatrician, Dr. Moscona focuses on ways to bring fundamental research findings to bear on health problems in children. She is dedicated to nurturing scientists and physicians at every level who share this goal. The laboratory is best known for identifying critical roles of the viral receptor binding protein in activating the viral fusion process during infection. Identifying the mechanism of fusion activation has led to promising targets for interfering with the viral entry process.

Lab Members

Center for Host-Pathogen Interaction

  • Tara Marcink, PhD

    • Associate Research Scientist

  • Kyle Stearns

    • Graduate Student (Physiology & Cellular Biophysics)

  • Alyssa Gonzalez

    • Graduate Student (Microbiology & Immunology)

  • Wenjing Cheng

    • Graduate Student (Physiology & Cellular Biophysics)

  • Max Crosby

    • Post-baccalaureate Research Assistant

  • Naiara Pascual

    • Research Assistant

  • Davide Lacarbonara, PhD

    • Postdoctoral Fellow (trainee of Matteo Porotto)

  • Ariel Kuhn, PhD

    • Postdoctoral Fellow, located in laboratory of collaborator Samuel Gellman, University of Wisconsin, Madison

  • Anirban Das, PhD

    • Postdoctoral Fellow, located in laboratory of Collaborator Chris Alabi, Cornell University, Ithaca (trainee of Matteo Porotto)

  • Shyla Upadhyay

    • Undergraduate Researcher

Select Publications

  • See full list of publications on PubMed

  • Marcink TC, Zipursky G, Cheng W, Stearns K, Stenglein S, Golub KL, Cohen F, Bovier F, Pfalmer D, Greninger AL, Porotto M, des Georges A, Moscona A. Subnanometer structure of an enveloped virus fusion complex on viral surface reveals new entry mechanisms. Sci Adv 2023;9:eade272

  • Marcink TC, Kicmal, T, Armbruster, E, Zhang, Z, Zipursky, G, Golub, KL, Idris, M, Khao, J, Drew-Bear, J, McGill, G, Gallagher, T, Porotto, M, des Georges, A, Moscona, A. Intermediates in SARS-CoV-2 spike-mediated cell entry. Sci Adv. 2022 Aug 19;8(33):eabo3153. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.abo3153. Epub 2022 Aug 19.PMID: 35984891

  • Schmitz KS, Geers D, de Vries RD, Bovier TF, Mykytyn AZ, Geurts van Kessel CH, Haagmans BL, Porotto M, de Swart RL, Moscona A. Potency of Fusion-Inhibitory Lipopeptides against SARS-CoV-2 Variants of Concern. mBio 2022 Jun 28;13(3):e0124922. doi: 10.1128/mbio.01249-22. Epub 2022 Jun 13

  • Greninger AL, Rybkina D, Lin MJ, Marcink TC,  Shean RC, Drew-Bear J, Makhsous N, Harder O, Bovier F, Burstein S, Niewiesk S, Rima BK, Porotto M, Moscona A. Human parainfluenza virus evolution during lung infection of immunocompromised individuals promotes viral persistence. J Clin Invest. 2021. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI150506.

  • Outlaw VK, Cheloha RW, Jurgens EM, Bovier FT, Zhu Y, Kreitler DF, Harder O, Niewiesk S, Porotto M, Gellman SH, Moscona A. Engineering Protease-Resistant Peptides to Inhibit Human Parainfluenza Viral Respiratory Infection. J Am Chem Soc. 2021 Apr 21;143(15):5958-5966. doi: 10.1021/jacs.1c01565. Epub 2021 Apr 7. PMID: 33825470

  • de Vries RD, Schmitz KS, Bovier FT, Predella C, Khao J, Noack D, Haagmans BL, Herfst S, Stearns KN, Drew-Bear J, Biswas S, Rockx B, McGill G, Dorrello NV, Gellman SH, Alabi CA*, de Swart RL*, Moscona A*, Porotto M*. Intranasal fusion inhibitory lipopeptide prevents direct-contact SARS-CoV-2 transmission in ferrets. Science. 2021 Feb 17:eabf4896. doi: 10.1126/science.abf4896. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 33597220. (*co-corresponding & co-senior)

  • Outlaw VK, Bovier FT, Mears MC, Cajimat MN, Zhu Y, Lin MJ, Addetia A, Lieberman NAP, Peddu V, Xie X, Shi PY, Greninger AL, Gellman SH, Bente DA, Moscona A*, Porotto M*. Inhibition of Coronavirus Entry In Vitro and Ex Vivo by a Lipid-Conjugated Peptide Derived from the SARS-CoV-2 Spike Glycoprotein HRC Domain. mBio. 2020 Oct 20;11(5):e01935-20. doi: 10.1128/mBio.01935-20.PMID: 33082259 (*co-corresponding)

  • Marcink TC, Wang T, des Georges A, Porotto M, Moscona A. Human parainfluenza virus fusion complex glycoproteins imaged in action on authentic viral surfaces. PLoS Pathog. 2020 Sep 21;16(9):e1008883. doi: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1008883. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 32956394.

  • Outlaw VK, Kreitler DF, Stelitano D, Porotto M, Moscona A* Gellman SH*. Effects of single α-to-β residue replacements on recognition of an extended segment in a viral fusion protein. ACS Infect Dis. 2020 Jul 21. doi: 10.1021/acsinfecdis.0c00385. PMID: 32692914 (*co-corresponding)

  • Marcink TC, Yariv E, Rybkina K, Más V, Bovier FT, des Georges A, Greninger AL, Alabi CA, Porotto M, Ben-Tal N, Moscona A. 2020. Hijacking the fusion complex of human parainfluenza virus as an antiviral strategy. mBio 11:e03203-19. https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.03203-19.

  • Outlaw VK, Bottom-Tanzer S, Kreitler DF, Gellman SH, Porotto M, Moscona A. Dual Inhibition of Human Parainfluenza Type 3 and Respiratory Syncytial Virus Infectivity with a Single Agent. J Am Chem Soc. 2019 Aug 14;141(32):12648-12656. doi: 10.1021/jacs.9b04615. Epub 2019 Aug 5. PMID: 31268705

  • Porotto, M, Ferren, M, Chen, Y-W, Siu, Y, Makhsous, N, Rima, B, Briese, T, Greninger, AL, Snoeck, H-W, Moscona, A. Authentic modeling of human respiratory virus infection in human pluripotent stem cell-derived lung organoids. MBio. 2019 May 7;10(3). pii: e00723-19. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00723-19. PMID: 31064833

  • Bottom-Tanzer SF, Rybkina K, Bell JN, Alabi CA, Mathieu C, Lu M, Biswas S, Vasquez M, Porotto M, Melero JA, Más V, Moscona A. Inhibiting Human Parainfluenza Virus Infection by Preactivating the Cell Entry Mechanism. MBio. 2019 Feb 19;10(1). pii: e02900-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.02900-18. PMID: 30782664

  • Iketani S, Shean RC, Ferren M, Makhsous N, Aquino DB, des Georges A, Rima B, Mathieu C, Porotto M, Moscona A, Greninger AL. Viral Entry Properties Required for Fitness in Humans Are Lost through Rapid Genomic Change during Viral Isolation. MBio. 2018 Jul 3;9(4). pii: e00898-18. doi: 10.1128/mBio.00898-18. PMID: 29970463 (*corresponding)

  • Mathieu C, Porotto M, Figueira T, Horvat B, Moscona A. Fusion Inhibitory Lipopeptides Engineered for Prophylaxis of Nipah Virus in Primates. J Infect Dis. 2018 Mar 16. doi: 10.1093/infdis/jiy152

  • Mathieu C, Augusto MT, Niewiesk S, Horvat B, Palermo LM, Sanna G, Madeddu S, Huey D, Castanho MA, Porotto M, Santos NC, Moscona A. Broad spectrum antiviral activity for paramyxoviruses is modulated by biophysical properties of fusion inhibitory peptides. Sci Rep. 2017 Mar 8;7:43610. doi: 10.1038/srep43610. PMID: 28344321