Robert A Davey, PhD

Professor, Virology, Immunology & Microbiology

Robert Davey
617.358.9166
620 Albany Street

Biography

Dr. Robert Davey, PhD is a currently a Professor of Microbiology at the Chobanian and Avedisian School of Medicine. Dr. Davey received his doctorate in Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Adelaide in Australia. He continued his training as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and then at the Division of Hematology, both with Dr. James Cunningham at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard Medical School.

Dr. Davey’s first academic appointment was as an Instructor in Medicine at Harvard. He then held an Assistant Professor position which he got promoted to Adjunct Associate Professor at the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Texas Medical Branch.

Dr. Davey was also a Ewing Halsell Scholar and Scientist at the Department of Virology and Immunology at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. As a Scientist at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute, Dr. Davey’s work was focused on identification of cellular factors important for establishing infection by filovirus and bunyaviruses. His work has culminated in a deeper understanding of the entry and cell signaling pathways that are used by these viruses to penetrate the cell membrane and establish infection. His work with Ebolavirus has been published in the high-impact journals PLoS Pathogens, PNAS and a new article on host factor dependence in Science that was featured on the cover page. Dr. Davey’s group works collaboratively with a number of groups providing sophisticated molecular biology and cell biology techniques for the study of pathogenic viruses including Ebolavirus for which the lab mainly works. He has developed high throughput screening techniques for Ebolavirus. He also performs contract work testing drugs and compounds for ebolavirus infection inhibition. His team is well trained in ABSL4 procedures and have been working with Ebolavirus since 2006.

From 2015-2017, Dr. Davey held the role of Interim Chair in the Department of Virology and Immunology at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute. He is also Director of ABSL4 at the Texas Biomedical Research Institute.

Other Positions

  • Faculty, National Emerging Infectious Disease Lab, Boston University
  • Member, Evans Center for Interdisciplinary Biomedical Research, Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine
  • Graduate Faculty (Primary Mentor of Grad Students), Boston University Chobanian & Avedisian School of Medicine, Graduate Medical Sciences

Publications

  • Published on 8/19/2023

    Wu C, Wagner ND, Moyle AB, Feng A, Sharma N, Stubbs SH, Donahue C, Davey RA, Gross ML, Leung DW, Amarasinghe GK. Disruption of Ebola NP0VP35 Inclusion Body-like Structures reduce Viral Infection. J Mol Biol. 2023 Oct 15; 435(20):168241. PMID: 37598728.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 7/22/2023

    Wu C, Wagner N, Moyle AB, Feng A, Sharma N, Stubbs SH, Donahue C, Davey R, Gross ML, Leung DW, Amarasinghe GK. The Ebola NP0VP35 Complex Phase Separates into Inclusion Body-Like Structures. Microsc Microanal. 2023 Jul 22; 29(29 Suppl 1):941. PMID: 37613387.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 4/8/2023

    Zou C, Yoon H, Park PMC, Patten JJ, Pellman J, Carreiro J, Tsai JM, Li YD, Roy Burman SS, Donovan KA, Gasser J, Sperling AS, Nowak RP, Fischer ES, Davey RA, Ebert BL, Slabicki M. The human E3 ligase RNF185 is a regulator of the SARS-CoV-2 envelope protein. iScience. 2023 May 19; 26(5):106601. PMID: 37095859.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 1/27/2023

    Rayaprolu V, Fulton BO, Rafique A, Arturo E, Williams D, Hariharan C, Callaway H, Parvate A, Schendel SL, Parekh D, Hui S, Shaffer K, Pascal KE, Wloga E, Giordano S, Negron N, Ni M, Copin R, Atwal GS, Franklin M, Boytz RM, Donahue C, Davey R, Baum A, Kyratsous CA, Saphire EO. Structure of the Inmazeb cocktail and resistance to Ebola virus escape. Cell Host Microbe. 2023 Feb 08; 31(2):260-272.e7. PMID: 36708708.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 12/23/2022

    Boytz R, Seitz S, Gaudiano E, Patten JJ, Keiser PT, Connor JH, Sharpe AH, Davey RA. Inactivation of Ebola Virus and SARS-CoV-2 in Cell Culture Supernatants and Cell Pellets by Gamma Irradiation. Viruses. 2022 Dec 23; 15(1). PMID: 36680083.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 9/28/2022

    Boytz R, Slabicki M, Ramaswamy S, Patten JJ, Zou C, Meng C, Hurst BL, Wang J, Nowak RP, Yang PL, Sattler M, Stone RM, Griffin JD, Gray NS, Gummuluru S, Davey RA, Weisberg E. Anti-SARS-CoV-2 activity of targeted kinase inhibitors: Repurposing clinically available drugs for COVID-19 therapy. J Med Virol. 2023 Jan; 95(1):e28157. PMID: 36117402.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 8/28/2022

    Mori H, Connell JP, Donahue CJ, Boytz R, Nguyen YTK, Leung DW, LaCount DJ, Davey RA. CAPG Is Required for Ebola Virus Infection by Controlling Virus Egress from Infected Cells. Viruses. 2022 Aug 28; 14(9). PMID: 36146710.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 8/28/2022

    Demarest JF, Kienle M, Boytz R, Ayres M, Kim EJ, Patten JJ, Chung D, Gandhi V, Davey RA, Sykes DB, Shohdy N, Pottage JC, Kumar VS. Brequinar and dipyridamole in combination exhibits synergistic antiviral activity against SARS-CoV-2 in vitro: Rationale for a host-acting antiviral treatment strategy for COVID-19. Antiviral Res. 2022 Oct; 206:105403. PMID: 36041646.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 8/23/2022

    Edwards MR, Vogel OA, Mori H, Davey RA, Basler CF. Marburg Virus VP30 Is Required for Transcription Initiation at the Glycoprotein Gene. mBio. 2022 Oct 26; 13(5):e0224322. PMID: 35997284.

    Read at: PubMed
  • Published on 8/22/2022

    Wang LL, Estrada L, Wiggins J, Anantpadma M, Patten JJ, Davey RA, Xiang SH. Ligand-based design of peptide entry inhibitors targeting the endosomal receptor binding site of filoviruses. Antiviral Res. 2022 Oct; 206:105399. PMID: 36007601.

    Read at: PubMed

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