Neuropathogenesis of the henipaviruses in the mouse

Henipaviruses, Hendra virus (HeV) and Nipah virus (NiV), are zoonotic and highly pathogenic to a range of animals including humans. High fatality rates and a lack of vaccines and therapeutics restricts these viruses to the highest biosafety containment in the world. The intranasal mouse model has previously shown that HeV can cause fatal encephalitic disease, however, similar challenge with closely related NiV results in a self-limiting lung infection with no evidence of encephalitis. This project investigates which proteins may be causing these different disease outcomes by generating recombinant HeV and NiV and looking at the resulting disease phenotype in mice.