Lisa Akhtar, MD, PhD, Attending Physician, Infectious Diseases at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago, received an R01 award from the National Institutes of Health and the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. The $2,992,584 award (award period July 2025–June 2030) will support her study, “The Contribution of HSV-2 ICP34.5 Variation to Neurovirulence During Neonatal Infection.”
Herpes simplex virus (HSV)-2 infection of the neonatal brain causes severe encephalitis and permanent developmental deficits, yet the factors that promote infection of the neonatal brain are unknown. Through her work on the study, Dr. Akhtar seeks to determine the contribution of the HSV-2 protein ICP34.5 to severe neurologic disease. Results from this study will guide the future development of anti-viral therapies designed to clear virus and prevent permanent damage to the neonatal brain, she said.
Dr. Akhtar is the Bernard L. Mirkin, PhD, MD Research Scholar at Lurie Children’s and the principal investigator of the Akhtar Laboratory at Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute. She is also Assistant Professor of Pediatrics (Infectious Diseases) at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine.
Pediatric research at Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children’s Hospital of Chicago is conducted through Stanley Manne Children’s Research Institute.
