Rachel Fearns, PhD
Chair and Ernest Barsamian, MD Professor, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology
Biography
My group’s research focuses on the transcription-replication machinery of non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses. My work spans several viruses in different viral families, including Marburg virus, Nipah virus, respiratory syncytial virus, and parainfluenza virus. Although these viruses cause very different diseases, they all share common mechanisms to transcribe and replicate their RNA genomes. My group specializes in using biochemical and molecular biology approaches to probe functional properties of the transcription-replication machinery. We collaborate with structural biologists to understand how the structure of viral polymerases relates to their multi-functional properties, with industry partners to determine the mechanism of action of small molecule polymerase inhibitors with therapeutic potential, and with experts in microscopy to study how the transcription-replication machinery is organized and regulated in infected cells.
Other Positions
- Faculty, National Emerging Infectious Disease Lab, Boston University
- Member, Pulmonary Center, Boston University
- Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University
- Member, Genome Science Institute, Boston University
- Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences
Education
- University of St Andrews, PhD
- University of Leeds, BS
Classes Taught
- GMSMI701
- GMSMI911
- GMSMI912
Publications
- Published on 10/21/2023
Yu X, Abeywickrema P, Bonneux B, Behera I, Anson B, Jacoby E, Fung A, Adhikary S, Bhaumik A, Carbajo RJ, De Bruyn S, Miller R, Patrick A, Pham Q, Piassek M, Verheyen N, Shareef A, Sutto-Ortiz P, Ysebaert N, Van Vlijmen H, Jonckers THM, Herschke F, McLellan JS, Decroly E, Fearns R, Grosse S, Roymans D, Sharma S, Rigaux P, Jin Z. Structural and mechanistic insights into the inhibition of respiratory syncytial virus polymerase by a non-nucleoside inhibitor. Commun Biol. 2023 Oct 21; 6(1):1074. PMID: 37865687.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 9/21/2023
Zhao C, Wang W, Bai Y, Amonkar G, Mou H, Olejnik J, Hume AJ, Mühlberger E, Fang Y, Que J, Fearns R, Ai X, Lerou PH. Age-related STAT3 signaling regulates severity of respiratory syncytial viral infection in human bronchial epithelial cells. bioRxiv. 2023 Sep 21. PMID: 37781574.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 8/1/2023
Aihara F, Wang Y, Belkina AC, Fearns R, Mizgerd JP, Feng F, Kepler TB. Diversity of B Cell Populations and Ig Repertoire in Human Lungs. J Immunol. 2023 Aug 01; 211(3):486-496. PMID: 37314411.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/19/2023
Kleiner VA, O Fischmann T, Howe JA, Beshore DC, Eddins MJ, Hou Y, Mayhood T, Klein D, Nahas DD, Lucas BJ, Xi H, Murray E, Ma DY, Getty K, Fearns R. Conserved allosteric inhibitory site on the respiratory syncytial virus and human metapneumovirus RNA-dependent RNA polymerases. Commun Biol. 2023 Jun 19; 6(1):649. PMID: 37337079.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/3/2023
Ouizougun-Oubari M, Fearns R. Structures and Mechanisms of Nonsegmented, Negative-Strand RNA Virus Polymerases. Annu Rev Virol. 2023 Sep 29; 10(1):199-215. PMID: 37137281.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 11/10/2022
Donovan-Banfield I, Milligan R, Hall S, Gao T, Murphy E, Li J, Shawli GT, Hiscox J, Zhuang X, McKeating JA, Fearns R, Matthews DA. Direct RNA sequencing of respiratory syncytial virus infected human cells generates a detailed overview of RSV polycistronic mRNA and transcript abundance. PLoS One. 2022; 17(11):e0276697. PMID: 36355791.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 6/22/2022
Cressey TN, Shareef AM, Kleiner VA, Noton SL, Byrne PO, McLellan JS, Mühlberger E, Fearns R. Distinctive features of the respiratory syncytial virus priming loop compared to other non-segmented negative strand RNA viruses. PLoS Pathog. 2022 06; 18(6):e1010451. PMID: 35731802.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/22/2021
Conley MJ, Short JM, Burns AM, Streetley J, Hutchings J, Bakker SE, Power BJ, Jaffery H, Haney J, Zanetti G, Murcia PR, Stewart M, Fearns R, Vijayakrishnan S, Bhella D. Helical ordering of envelope-associated proteins and glycoproteins in respiratory syncytial virus. EMBO J. 2022 02 01; 41(3):e109728. PMID: 34935163.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 12/16/2021
Shareef AM, Ludeke B, Jordan P, Deval J, Fearns R. Comparison of RNA synthesis initiation properties of non-segmented negative strand RNA virus polymerases. PLoS Pathog. 2021 12; 17(12):e1010151. PMID: 34914795.
Read at: PubMed - Published on 5/18/2021
Braun MR, Noton SL, Blanchard EL, Shareef A, Santangelo PJ, Johnson WE, Fearns R. Respiratory syncytial virus M2-1 protein associates non-specifically with viral messenger RNA and with specific cellular messenger RNA transcripts. PLoS Pathog. 2021 05; 17(5):e1009589. PMID: 34003848.
Read at: PubMed
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