The University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston · BiologyHuang Virology Lab
Cheng Huang · Galveston, Texas
Research Focus
Cheng Huang's research lab at the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston focuses on understanding the biology of the Lassa virus, which causes Lassa fever, a significant health threat in West Africa. The lab is investigating a specific protein called the nucleoprotein (NP) that helps the virus evade the immune system and maintains the virus's genetic integrity. By studying how NP reduces errors during RNA replication, the lab aims to develop better treatments and vaccines against Lassa fever.
Lassa virusnucleoproteinRNA replicationimmune evasionviral fitnessexoribonucleasepathogenicityantiviral developmentvaccines
Research Aims
3AIM 01Investigate the impact of the nucleoprotein exoribonuclease on Lassa virus RNA mutation in vivo.
AIM 02Analyze RdRp mutations selected during virus passaging to improve RNA synthesis efficacy.
AIM 03Conduct biochemical studies to understand the role of NP ExoN in reducing RNA substitutions.
Skills the Lab Values
PCRRNA sequencinganimal modelsbiochemical assayscell cultureviral infection studiesnext generation sequencingdata analysismolecular cloning
Output against the department
Publications939top 2% of dept.18th of 1,033
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations38ktop 8% of dept.78th of 1,033
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.