Virology and Immunology of Emergent Arboviruses: Learning From the Patients

• Sandra Lopez Verges, PhD
• Sponsored by California ACS, Women Chemists Committee
• May 9th, 10:30 am-12:30 pm, Online, Free, Registration required | Download flyer

Emergent viruses are primarily zoonotic viruses, meaning that they infect both human and non-human animals. They can be transmitted predominantly by aerosols, direct contact or through vectors. This talk will focus on the latter group of emergent viruses, which are transmitted by arthropod vectors (arboviruses). The main arboviruses are transmitted by mosquitoes. We will describe their molecular and genetic characterization during outbreaks and surveillance from febrile patients. We will also explore the immune response in these patients, and what can be learned from survivors and seropositive healthy individuals to create new treatments and define correlates of protection for future vaccine studies. Finally, we will discuss how these patient-based observations can inform more basic in-vitro studies.

About the Speaker

Sandra did her studies at the Université Paris 7 Denis Diderot, Paris, France. She received her BS in Biology-Biochemistry, her MS (Pasteur Institute) and her PhD in Microbiology with a specialty in Basic Virology. Her doctoral thesis focused on HIV cellular cofactors at the Institut Cochin. She completed post- doctoral training in Immunology and Virology at UCSF.

Since 2012, Sandra has worked at the Gorgas Memorial Institute for Health Studies, Panama, as a Senior Health Researcher. She created the flow cytometry core there, participates in arboviruses and emergent viruses and leads projects on viral immunology. She was the Head of the Department of Research in Virology and Biotechnology from January 2020 to January 2025, leading the laboratory’s national response for the COVID19 pandemic. She has also been teaching graduate classes at the University of Panama since 2018.

Her research has resulted in one patent and more than 60 scientific publications (ORCID: 0000-0002-1106-8479). She obtained several awards as the Gorgas Memorial Award (ASTMH, 2013) and the UNESCO-L’OREAL International Fellowship for Young Women in Science in 2014 to work on arboviruses at the University of Texas Medical Branch, USA (2015-2017). She was selected as a member of the National Research System (SNI, SENACYT in Panama) in 2014, of the Global Young Academy (GYA) in 2018. She was part of the Pathogen Bulletin working group on Biosafety and Biosecurity in Virology research (2022 2024), the WHO R&D Blueprint Togaviridae working group (2023-2024) and the panel of experts from the International Science Council for the Bioweapons convention (2024-2025).

Besides her research work, she has participated in workshops, courses and projects on Science Diplomacy and Science advice. She continues to be an advocate for women in science and participates in science motivational programs for young people.