Mehedi Lab

Our lab's broad research interests include pulmonary disease and the pathology and potential therapeutic intervention into infections such as RSV, influenza, and pneumonia.

Recent Research Success

1. We showed RSV infection does not cause EMT in three different in vitro models. Our in vitro data supports RSV infection does not cause cancer, nor does it cause lung epithelial cell layer destruction. Talukdar S.N., Mcgregor B., Osan J., Hur J., and Mehedi M. RSV infection does not induce EMT. https://doi.org/10.1128/jvi.00394-23
2. We showed that healthy adult airway epithelium is resilient to RSV infection. We also identified that RSV-infected ciliated cell expansion contributes to bronchial wall thickening. Finally, we discovered cytoskeletal inflammation is a noncanonical way of RSV-induced bronchiolitis. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.virusres.2023.199060
3. We identified that SARS-CoV-2 preferentially infects goblet cells. We also determined goblet cell hyperplasia contributes to SARS-CoV-2-driven severe pathophysiology in COPD. Our results prove that the disparity in cell tropism contributes to different pathophysiology between RSV and SARS-CoV-2 infections. https://doi.org/10.1128/spectrum.00459-22
4. We identified that SARS-CoV-2 spike protein possesses a novel nuclear localization signal (NLS) due to a foreign sequence insertion. The NLS motif allows the protein to be nuclear. Indeed, one out of four spike proteins translocates into the nucleus. It appears that spike protein shuttle spike mRNA (possibly viral genome) into the nucleus. Overall, we found 1% spike mRNA (possibly viral genome) translocate into the infected cell's nucleus. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmicb.2023.1073789

Current projects:

1. Determining RSV-induced epigenetic changes in the pediatric, healthy adult, and adults with chronic diseases. Additionally, elucidating the mechanism of RSV-induced cytoskeletal inflammation— a non-canonical mechanism of bronchiolitis.
2. Developing RSV infection and recovery model for identifying treatment. Additionally, characterizing small molecule inhibitors for combating RSV infection or reducing RSV-induced bronchiolitis.
3. Developing a novel RSV animal model for evaluating therapeutic & vaccines, e.g., a peptide-based RSV treatment and RSV live-attenuated vaccine.

Interested undergraduate, graduate, or postdoctoral researchers email masfique.mehedi@und.edu for virology research opportunities in Mehedi Lab.