Christiane Wobus, PhD
Associate Professor of Microbiology
Immunology
Microbiology and Immunology
1150 West Medical Center Dr
Ann Arbor, MI 48109
[email protected]

Available to mentor
Christiane Wobus, PhD
Associate Professor
  • About
  • Links
  • Qualifications
  • Research Overview
  • Recent Publications
    • About

    Dr. Christiane Wobus is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan Medical School. She joined the department in 2007 and was subsequently promoted to Associate Professor in 2014. In 2014, she was also awarded the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation in Germany. Before joining the University of Michigan, Dr. Wobus was a postdoctoral fellow at Washington University in St. Louis, MO, where she co-discovered murine norovirus and subsequently developed the first cell culture system for noroviruses. She received her undergraduate training in Germany before moving to Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI, where she obtained her M.Sc. in 1997 studying the plant virus pea enation mosaic virus. She then returned to Germany for her doctoral studies on adeno-associated viruses at the German Cancer Research Institute, Heidelberg, and obtained her Ph.D. degree in 2000. Currently, Dr. Wobus’ research focuses on norovirus and astrovirus – host interactions. Her long-term goal is to identify conserved features between enteric viruses and across species that may ultimately lead to the development of effective prevention and control strategies for human noroviruses and astroviruses, major causes of non-bacterial gastroenteritis worldwide. During the COVID pandemic, her lab also engaged in collaborative studies investigating SARS-CoV-2. At the national and international level, Dr. Wobus is an editor for Journal of Virology and Journal of General Virology, and an associate editor for PLoS Pathogens. She currently is the chair of the American Society of Virology Travel Award committee and the University of Michigan Institutional Biosafety Committee.

    Links
    • Lab website
    • Department Website
    Qualifications
    • postdoctoral training
      Washington University in St. Louis School of Medicine, Pathology and Immunology, 2007
    • PhD
      German Cancer Research Institute, Heidelberg, 2000
    • MS
      Michigan State University, East Lansing, 1997
    • BS
      University of Göttingen, Göttingen, 1994
    Research Overview

    The Wobus lab is interested in mechanisms of norovirus and astrovirus - host interactions. Noroviruses and astroviruses are major causes of viral gastroenteritis worldwide resulting in substantial morbidity and economic loss. However, little information is available about the biology of these viruses and no directed disease prevention and control strategies exist. With our discovery of the first murine norovirus (MNV-1) and hence the availability of a small animal model, the development of the first in vitro culture system and reverse genetics system for a norovirus, we have a unique system to undertake a detailed analysis of different aspects of norovirus biology. More recently, we have expanded our studies to human intestinal organoid systems to study human noroviruses and human astroviruses to compare and contrast human vs murine noroviruses and define shared features of enteric viruses, respectively. Since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have also been performing collaborative studies with infectious SARS-CoV-2 at BSL3.

    Recent Publications See All Publications
    • Journal Article
      Correction for Rasmussen et al., "Virology-the path forward".
      Rasmussen AL, Gronvall GK, Lowen AC, Goodrum F, Alwine J, Andersen KG, Anthony SJ, Baines J, Banerjee A, Broadbent AJ, Brooke CB, Campos SK, Caposio P, Casadevall A, Chan GC, Cliffe AR, Collins-McMillen D, Connell N, Damania B, Daugherty MD, Debbink K, Dermody TS, DiMaio D, Duprex WP, Emerman M, Galloway DA, Garry RF, Goldstein SA, Greninger AL, Hartman AL, Hogue BG, Horner SM, Hotez PJ, Jung JU, Kamil JP, Karst SM, Laimins L, Lakdawala SS, Landais I, Letko M, Lindenbach B, Liu S-L, Luftig M, McFadden G, Mehle A, Morrison J, Moscona A, Mühlberger E, Munger J, Münger K, Murphy E, Neufeldt CJ, Nikolich JZ, O'Connor CM, Pekosz A, Permar SR, Pfeiffer JK, Popescu SV, Purdy JG, Racaniello VR, Rice CM, Runstadler JA, Sapp MJ, Scott RS, Smith GA, Sorrell EM, Speranza E, Streblow D, Tibbetts SA, Toth Z, Van Doorslaer K, Weiss SR, White EA, White TM, Wobus CE, Worobey M, Yamaoka S, Yurochko A. J Virol, 2024 Feb 9; e0007424 DOI:10.1128/jvi.00074-24
      PMID: 38334328
    • Journal Article
      The reversible activation of norovirus by metal ions.
      Sherman M, Cox F, Smith H, Habib MH, Karst S, Wobus CE, Smith TJ. J Virol, 2024 Feb 20; 98 (2): e0173523 DOI:10.1128/jvi.01735-23
      PMID: 38236007
    • Journal Article
      Virology-the path forward.
      Rasmussen AL, Gronvall GK, Lowen AC, Goodrum F, Alwine J, Andersen KG, Anthony SJ, Baines J, Banerjee A, Broadbent AJ, Brooke CB, Campos SK, Caposio P, Casadevall A, Chan GC, Cliffe AR, Collins-McMillen D, Connell N, Damania B, Daugherty MD, Debbink K, Dermody TS, DiMaio D, Duprex WP, Emerman M, Galloway DA, Garry RF, Goldstein SA, Greninger AL, Hartman AL, Hogue BG, Horner SM, Hotez PJ, Jung JU, Kamil JP, Karst SM, Laimins L, Lakdawala SS, Landais I, Letko M, Lindenbach B, Liu S-L, Luftig M, McFadden G, Mehle A, Morrison J, Moscona A, Mühlberger E, Munger J, Münger K, Murphy E, Neufeldt CJ, Nikolich JZ, O'Connor CM, Pekosz A, Permar SR, Pfeiffer JK, Popescu SV, Purdy JG, Racaniello VR, Rice CM, Runstadler JA, Sapp MJ, Scott RS, Smith GA, Sorrell EM, Speranza E, Streblow D, Tibbetts SA, Toth Z, Van Doorslaer K, Weiss SR, White EA, White TM, Wobus CE, Worobey M, Yamaoka S, Yurochko A. J Virol, 2024 Jan 23; 98 (1): e0179123 DOI:10.1128/jvi.01791-23
      PMID: 38168672
    • Preprint
      Norovirus NS1/2 protein increases glutaminolysis for efficient viral replication.
      Hafner A, Meurs N, Garner A, Azar E, Passalacqua KD, Nagrath D, Wobus CE. 2023 Dec 19; DOI:10.1101/2023.12.19.572316
      PMID: 38187600
    • Journal Article
      Amino acid substitutions in norovirus VP1 dictate host dissemination via variations in cellular attachment.
      Mills JT, Minogue SC, Snowden JS, Arden WKC, Rowlands DJ, Stonehouse NJ, Wobus CE, Herod MR. J Virol, 2023 Dec 21; 97 (12): e0171923 DOI:10.1128/jvi.01719-23
      PMID: 38032199
    • Journal Article
      Type I interferon signaling induces a delayed antiproliferative response in respiratory epithelial cells during SARS-CoV-2 infection.
      Bragazzi Cunha J, Leix K, Sherman EJ, Mirabelli C, Frum T, Zhang CJ, Kennedy AA, Lauring AS, Tai AW, Sexton JZ, Spence JR, Wobus CE, Emmer BT. J Virol, 2023 Dec 21; 97 (12): e0127623 DOI:10.1128/jvi.01276-23
      PMID: 37975674
    • Journal Article
      ARF6 is a host factor for SARS-CoV-2 infection in vitro
      Mirabelli C, Sherman EJ, Cunha JB, Wotring JW, El Saghir J, Harder J, Kretzler M, Sexton JZ, Wobus CE, Emmer BT. bioRxiv, DOI:10.1101/2022.06.09.495482
    • Presentation
      New insights into human astrovirus interactions with the intestinal epithelium.
      Wobus C. 2023 Oct 18;