Scott Hensley

Research Interests -influenza virus -H5N1 -SARS-CoV-2 -antibodies -antigenic drift Key words: Influenza virus, H5N1, SARS-CoV-2, antigenic drift, viral pathogenesis, viral receptors, antibody specificity, vaccines Description of Research Seasonal influenza viruses pose a major threat to the human population. Influenza viruses rapidly escape pre-existing humoral immunity by accumulating mutations in the viral surface proteins hemagglutinin and neuraminidase. This process, termed “antigenic drift”, creates antigenically distinct viruses, making it difficult to predict which types of viruses will predominate during any given flu season. Antigenic drift is a problem for vaccine manufacturers. Influenza viruses can also cause pandemics. Currently, H5N1 viruses are widely circulating in birds and have recently jumped into dairy cattle within the United States. It is important to monitor the spread of influenza viruses with pandemic potential and to assess the pandemic risk of individual influenza virus strains. The Hensley laboratory is completing experiments to 1) better understand mechanisms that promote antigenic drift of influenza viruses, 2) assess population immunity against new influenza viral strains with pandemic potential, (3) determine how childhood influenza exposures influence immune responses against seasonal and pandemic influenza strains, (4) better understand heterogeneity in immune responses elicited by influenza vaccines, (5) develop new influenza vaccine platforms, (6) understand how SARS-CoV-2 evolves in a population with heterogenous immunity. Our overarching goals are to use basic immunological and virological approaches to improve viral vaccines and therapeutics.

Santos JJS, Wang S, McBride R, Adams L, Harvey R, Zhao Y, Wrobel AG, Gamblin S, Skehel J, Lewis NS, Paulson JC, Hensley SE.: Bovine H5N1 binds poorly to human-type sialic acid receptors. Nature 2025. Garretson TA, Liu J, Li SH, Scher G, Santos JJS, Hogan G, Vieira MC, Furey C, Atkinson RK, Ye N, Ort JT, Kim K, Hernandez KA, Eilola T, Schultz DC, Cherry S, Cobey S, Hensley SE.: Immune history shapes human antibody responses to H5N1 influenza viruses. Nat Med Mar 2025. Lowen AC, Baker AL, Bowman AS, García-Sastre A, Hensley SE, Lakdawala SS, Moncla LH, Nelson MI, Pekosz A, Poulson RL, Puryear WB, Runstadler JA, Sutton TC, Tompkins SM, Webby RJ; Risk Assessment Pipeline working group of the NIAID Centers of Excellence for Influenza Research and Response (CEIRR) Network.: Pandemic risk stemm