Taha Y. Taha, PharmD, PhD, aims to predict, identify, and characterize emerging variants of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. To do so, he has developed novel tools that enable scientists to rapidly and safely characterize viral variants. His team is working to help design novel antiviral therapeutics and vaccines that work across variants, and to be better prepared for future viral pandemics.
Disease Areas
- SARS-CoV-2
- Infectious Diseases
- Hepatitis B Virus
Areas of Expertise
- Virology
- Virus-Like Particles
- Reverse Genetics
- Small Molecule and Genetic Screening
Lab Focus
- Building experimental platforms to predict and characterize emerging viral variants.
- Screening small molecules to identify new antivirals.
- Using machine learning to design the next generation of vaccines.
Research Impact
Taha’s research focuses on emerging viruses. During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, he developed a reverse genetics system to characterize emerging SARS-CoV-2 variants and determine how the genetic changes affected the virus’ susceptibility to antibody neutralization. In ongoing work, he is leading an initiative to design a novel machine learning platform to predict SARS-CoV-2 structural protein variants and potentially design fail-proof future vaccines. He is also leading a collaborative effort to map the interactome of SARS-CoV-2 and host proteins during infection, which may help point to novel therapeutic targets.
