Lucas Adams
Program: Immunology
Current advisor: Daved H. Fremont, PhD
Undergraduate university: Oklahoma Baptist University
Research summary
The co-evolution of virus and host may partly be understood in terms of “cross-recognition”; that is, as a virus evolves to recognize and infiltrate a suitable cellular environment, the host reciprocally has evolved to recognize and thwart such an invasion. While this interplay is complex and our understanding of it incomplete, it may crudely be reduced to discrete physical interactions between the virus and specific host factors, such as cognate receptors/attachment factors (i.e., viral recognition of host) or antibodies (i.e., host recognition of virus). These interactions underlie basic features of viral infection, including host specificity, cellular tropism, and antiviral immunity, as well as critical phenomena of viral evolution, such as immune evasion and host species expansion. Biophysical studies of viral receptors and antibodies may thus provide fundamental insights in virology and guide the optimization of vaccines or other countermeasures. To this end, I seek to investigate biophysical and structural properties of receptors and antibodies specific to viral genera of pandemic or epidemic potential, including Betacoronavirus (e.g., SARS-CoV-2) and Alphavirus (e.g., Chikungunya).
Graduate publications
Zimmerman O, Altman Doss AM, Kaplonek P, Liang CY, VanBlargan LA, Chen RE, Monroy JM, Wedner HJ, Kulczycki A Jr, Mantia TL, O’Shaughnessy CC, Davis-Adams HG, Bertera HL, Adams LJ, Raju S, Zhao FR, Rigell CJ, Dy TB, Kau AL, Ren Z, Turner JS, O’Halloran JA, Presti RM, Fremont DH, Kendall PL, Ellebedy AH, Alter G, Diamond MS. 2022 mRNA vaccine boosting enhances antibody responses against SARS-CoV-2 Omicron variant in individuals with antibody deficiency syndromes. Cell Rep Med, 3(6):100653.
Errico JM, Adams LJ, Fremont DH. 2022 Antibody-mediated immunity to SARS-CoV-2 spike. Adv Immunol, 154():1-69.
Lin FJ, Doss AMA, Davis-Adams HG, Adams LJ, Hanson CH, VanBlargan LA, Liang CY, Chen RE, Monroy JM, Wedner HJ, Kulczycki A, Mantia TL, O’Shaughnessy CC, Raju S, Zhao FR, Rizzi E, Rigell CJ, Dy TB, Kau AL, Ren Z, Turner JS, O’Halloran JA, Presti RM, Fremont DH, Kendall PL, Ellebedy AH, Mudd PA, Diamond MS, Zimmerman O, Laidlaw BJ. 2022 SARS-CoV-2 booster vaccination rescues attenuated IgG1 memory B cell response in primary antibody deficiency patients.. Front Immunol, 13():1033770.
VanBlargan LA*, Adams LJ*, Liu Z*, Chen RE, Gilchuk P, Raju S, Smith BK, Zhao H, Case JB, Winkler ES, Whitener BM, Droit L, Aziati ID, Bricker TL, Joshi A, Shi PY, Creanga A, Pegu A, Handley SA, Wang D, Boon ACM, Crowe JE Jr, Whelan SPJ, Fremont DH, Diamond MS. 2021 A potently neutralizing SARS-CoV-2 antibody inhibits variants of concern by utilizing unique binding residues in a highly conserved epitope.. Immunity, ():S1074-7613(21)00348-4.
Smith BK, Janowski AB, Fremont AC, Adams LJ, Dai YN, Farnsworth CW, Gronowski AM, Roper SM, Wang D, Fremont DH. 2021 Progression of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence in St. Louis, Missouri, through January 2021. mSphere, 6(4):e0045021.
Hassan AO, Shrihari S, Gorman MJ, Ying B, Yaun D, Raju S, Chen RE, Dmitriev IP, Kashentseva E, Adams LJ, Mann C, Davis-Gardner ME, Suthar MS, Shi PY, Saphire EO, Fremont DH, Curiel DT, Alter G, Diamond MS. 2021 An intranasal vaccine durably protects against SARS-CoV-2 variants in mice. Cell Rep, 36(4):109452.
Bricker TL, Darling TL, Hassan AO, Harastani HH, Soung A, Jiang X, Dai YN, Zhao H, Adams LJ, Holtzman MJ, Bailey AL, Case JB, Fremont DH, Klein R, Diamond MS, Boon ACM. 2021 A single intranasal or intramuscular immunization with chimpanzee adenovirus-vectored SARS-CoV-2 vaccine protects against pneumonia in hamsters. Cell Rep, 36(3):109400.
Case JB, Rothlauf PW, Chen RE, Kafai NM, Fox JM, Smith BK, Shrihari S, McCune BT, Harvey IB, Keeler SP, Bloyet LM, Zhao H, Ma M, Adams LJ, Winkler ES, Holtzman MJ, Fremont DH, Whelan SPJ, Diamond MS. 2020 Replication-Competent Vesicular Stomatitis Virus Vaccine Vector Protects against SARS-CoV-2-Mediated Pathogenesis in Mice. Cell Host Microbe, 28(3):465-474.e4.
Hassan AO, Kafai NM, Dmitriev IP, Fox JM, Smith BK, Harvey IB, Chen RE, Winkler ES, Wessel AW, Case JB, Kashentseva E, McCune BT, Bailey AL, Zhao H, VanBlargan LA, Dai YN, Ma M, Adams LJ, Shrihari S, Danis JE, Gralinski LE, Hou YJ, Schäfer A, Kim AS, Keeler SP, Weiskopf D, Baric RS, Holtzman MJ, Fremont DH, Curiel DT, Diamond MS. 2020 A Single-Dose Intranasal ChAd Vaccine Protects Upper and Lower Respiratory Tracts against SARS-CoV-2. Cell, 183(1):169-184.e13.
Zhang R, Earnest JT, Kim AS, Winkler ES, Desai P, Adams LJ, Hu G, Bullock C, Gold B, Cherry S, Diamond MS. 2019 Expression of the Mxra8 Receptor Promotes Alphavirus Infection and Pathogenesis in Mice and Drosophila. Cell Rep, 28(10):2647-2658.e5.