Assistant Professor Priscila Da Silva Castanha and team awarded Pitt Momentum Funds.
Assistant Professor Priscila Da Silva Castanha, leading a team from the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, has been awarded Pitt Momentum Funds for her innovative research on the Powassan virus (POWV), an emerging tick-borne virus posing significant public health risks.
The Powassan virus, though not widely known, presents a grave concern due to its potential to cause severe neuroinvasive disease. The initial transmission of this virus occurs through the bite of an infected tick, making the skin the primary battleground for the host-pathogen interaction. However, the early dynamics of this interaction have remained largely uncharted territory, mainly due to the absence of effective translational models. Da Silva Castanha's project seeks to fill this critical gap by leveraging advanced human skin model systems to shed light on the initial events that facilitate POWV transmission.
The significance of this research extends far beyond academic circles, promising to inform the development of targeted therapeutic interventions against tick-borne viruses of global relevance. By pinpointing potential therapeutic targets, Da Silva Castanha's work could pave the way for novel strategies to prevent or mitigate the transmission of diseases like POWV, which remain underresearched and underfunded despite their growing threat to public health.
-Joe Barreto