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Research and Clinical Interests

I am interested in newly emerging infectious diseases, particularly those that may be transmitted by blood transfusion, including Chikungunya and other alphaviruses, XMRV and SARS-CoV, as well as more established viruses, such as HCV, HIV and HBV. Of particular interest are the mechanisms of viral attachment and entry, and the identification and use of small molecules and antibodies to inhibit this process. For example, we are in the process of characterizing novel small molecule inhibitors of corona-, filo- and paramyxoviruses that interfere with a necessary endosomal proteolytic event mediated by host proteases such as cathepsin L.

The lab is also skilled in the identification and characterization of human neutralizing antibodies to various viral pathogens including HCV, alphaviruses, coronaviruses and HBV. Furthermore, we are studying the development of these responses in acute and chronic infection, as well as vaccinees.

Selected Publications

• Simmons G, Reeves JR, Rennekamp AJ, Amberg SM, Piefer AJ, Bates P. (2004) Characterization of severe acute respiratory syndrome-associated coronavirus spike protein mediated viral entry. PNAS 101:4240-4245.
• Simmons G, Gosalia DN, Rennekamp AJ, Reeves JR, Diamond SL, Bates P. Inhibitors of cathepsin L prevent SARS coronavirus entry. (2005) PNAS. 102:11876-11881.
• Kaletsky RL, Simmons G, Bates P. (2007) Proteolysis of the Ebola glycoproteins enhances virus binding and infectivity. J Virol. 81:13378-84
• Salvador B, Zhou Y, Michault A, Muench MO, Simmons G. (2009) Characterization of Chikungunya pseudotyped viruses: Identification of refractory cell lines and demonstration of cellular tropism differences mediated by mutations in E1 glycoprotein. Virology. 393(1):33-41.
• Chaipan C, Steffen I, Solomon Tsegaye T, Bertram S, Glowacka I, Kato Y, Schmokel J, Munch J, Simmons G, Gerardy-Schahn R, Pohlmann S. (2010) Incorporation of podoplanin into HIV released from HEK-293T cells, but not PBMC, is required for efficient binding to the attachment factor CLEC-2. Retrovirology. 7:47.
• Glowacka I, Bertram S, Herzog P, Pfefferle S, Steffen I, Muench MO, Simmons G, Hofmann H, Kuri T, Weber F, Eichler J, Drosten C, Pöhlmann S. (2010) Differential downregulation of ACE2 by the spike proteins of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus and human coronavirus NL63. J Virol. 84:1198-205.
• Switzer WM, Jia1 H, Hohn O, Zheng HQ, Tang S, Shankar A, Bannert N, Simmons G, Hendry RM, Falkenberg VR, Reeves WC, Heneine W. (2010) Absence of Evidence of Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus related Virus Infection in Persons with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Healthy Controls in the United States. Retrovirology (In Press).
• Zhou Y, Lu K, Pfefferle S, Bertram S, Glowacka I, Drosten C, Pöhlmann S, Simmons G. (2010) A Single Asparagine-Linked Glycosylation Site of the SARS-Coronavirus Spike Glycoprotein Facilitates Inhibition by Mannose-Binding Lectin through Multiple Mechanisms. J Virol (In Press).

• Assistant Professor Adjunct
• Laboratory Medicine

Specialty Areas

• Viral Entry and Emerging Viral Pathogens

Contact Information

• gsimmons@bloodsystems.org
• Phone: (415) 901-0748
• Fax: (415) 567-5899

• Blood Systems Research Institute
• 270 Masonic Ave
• San Francisco
• CA. 94118

Web Site

• http://www.bsrisf.org/i-gsimmons.html