Friedrich Lab
Principal Investigator: Thomas C. Friedrich
Institution: University of Wisconsin–Madison (Madison, WI)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: ✅ Accepting PhD Students ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Project Summary Exposure to one flavivirus can elicit immune responses that cross-react with genetically related viruses, in complex relationships with a variety of impacts on subsequent flavivirus infections. The best-characterized example of this is within the dengue virus (DENV) serocomplex. Pre-existing immunity to one of the 4 DENV serotypes, DENV-1, for instance, can increase the risk of severe disease upon infection with a different sero- type in what is termed antibody-dependent enhancement (ADE). Interestingly, emerging evidence suggests that immunological cross-reactivity among flaviviruses is not always reciprocal—that is, pre-existing immunity to virus A may protect against disease associated with virus B, while pre-existing immunity to virus B may increase the risk of disease upon infection with virus A. For example, we and others have shown in hu- man cohorts that pre-existing immunity to DENV reduces the risk of disease associated with Zika virus (ZIKV) infection, while immunity to ZIKV enhances the risk of disease associated with certain DENV serotypes. Thus, the degree to which pre-existing flavivirus immunity is cross-protective, enhancing, or neutral may depend o…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AI183302-03: The paradox of flavivirus antigenic non-reciprocity (2026)
- 5R01AI183302-02: The paradox of flavivirus antigenic non-reciprocity (2025)
- 1R01AI183302-01: The paradox of flavivirus antigenic non-reciprocity (2024)
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