Amy L Hartman

Contributions to Public Health

• My postdoctoral fellowship was in the Special Pathogens Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta, GA under Stuart Nichol. I focused on viral virulence factors of Ebola Zaire virus. In 2005 I was a member of the outbreak response team sent to Angola during the largest recorded outbreak of Marburg Hemorrhagic fever.
  • Towner JS, Khristova ML, Sealy TK, Vincent MJ, Erickson BR, Bawiec DA, Hartman AL, Comer JA, Zaki SR, Ströher U, Gomes da Silva F, del Castillo F, Rollin PE, Ksiazek TG, Nichol ST. Marburgvirus genomics and association with a large hemorrhagic fever outbreak in Angola. J Virol. 2006 Jul;80(13):6497-516. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00069-06. PMID: 16775337; PMCID: PMC1488971.
  • Hartman AL, Dover JE, Towner JS, Nichol ST. Reverse genetic generation of recombinant Zaire Ebola viruses containing disrupted IRF-3 inhibitory domains results in attenuated virus growth in vitro and higher levels of IRF-3 activation without inhibiting viral transcription or replication. J Virol. 2006 Jul;80(13):6430-40. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00044-06. PMID: 16775331; PMCID: PMC1488969.
• In collaboration with others at the Center for Vaccine Research and the Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, we have developed and characterized large animal models for use in BSL-3 containment.
  • Powell DS, Walker RC, Heflin DT, Fisher D, Kosky JB, Homer LC, Reed DS, Stefano-Cole K, Trichel AM, Hartman AL. Development of novel mechanisms for housing, handling, and remote monitoring of common marmosets at animal biosafety level 3. Pathog Dis. 2014 Jul;71(2):219-26. doi: 10.1111/2049-632X.12140. Epub 2014 Feb 24. PMID: 24453160.
  • Hartman AL, Powell DS, Bethel LM, Caroline AL, Schmid RJ, Oury T, Reed DS. Aerosolized rift valley fever virus causes fatal encephalitis in african green monkeys and common marmosets. J Virol. 2014 Feb;88(4):2235-45. doi: 10.1128/JVI.02341-13. Epub 2013 Dec 11. PMID: 24335307; PMCID: PMC3911574.
• My research at the Center for Vaccine Research at the University of Pittsburgh focuses on the development of animal models to study the pathogenesis of Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV) which cause disease in livestock and humans. Our research focuses on understudied outcomes, including viral encephalitis and vertical transmission.
  • Bales JM, Powell DS, Bethel LM, Reed DS, Hartman AL. Choice of inbred rat strain impacts lethality and disease course after respiratory infection with Rift Valley Fever Virus. Front Cell Infect Microbiol. 2012 Aug 2;2:105. doi: 10.3389/fcimb.2012.00105. PMID: 22919694; PMCID: PMC3417668.
  • McMillen CM, Arora N, Boyles DA, Albe JR, Kujawa MR, Bonadio JF, Coyne CB, Hartman AL. Rift Valley fever virus induces fetal demise in Sprague-Dawley rats through direct placental infection. Sci Adv. 2018 Dec 5;4(12):eaau9812. doi: 10.1126/sciadv.aau9812. PMID: 30525107; PMCID: PMC6281433.
• The development of animal models in BSL-3 containment allows for the evaluation of countermeasures against severe disease.
  • Caroline AL, Powell DS, Bethel LM, Oury TD, Reed DS, Hartman AL. Broad spectrum antiviral activity of favipiravir (T-705): protection from highly lethal inhalational Rift Valley Fever. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2014 Apr 10;8(4):e2790. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0002790. PMID: 24722586; PMCID: PMC3983105.
  • McMillen CM, Chapman NS, Hoehl RM, Skvarca LB, Schwarz MM, Handal LS, Crowe JE Jr, Hartman AL. A highly potent human neutralizing antibody prevents vertical transmission of Rift Valley fever virus in a rat model. Nat Commun. 2023 Jul 26;14(1):4507. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-40187-z. PMID: 37495594; PMCID: PMC10372071.
• With our collaborators at Washington University, St. Louis, we identified LRP1 as the entry receptor for Rift Valley fever virus Orupouche orthobunyavirus which allows us to better understand disease pathogenesis and identify targeted therapeutics.
• Ganaie SS, Schwarz MM, McMillen CM, Price DA, Feng AX, Albe JR, Wang W, Miersch S, Orvedahl A, Cole AR, Sentmanat MF, Mishra N, Boyles DA, Koenig ZT, Kujawa MR, Demers MA, Hoehl RM, Moyle AB, Wagner ND, Stubbs SH, Cardarelli L, Teyra J, McElroy A, Gross ML, Whelan SPJ, Doench J, Cui X, Brett TJ, Sidhu SS, Virgin HW, Egawa T, Leung DW, Amarasinghe GK, Hartman AL. Lrp1 is a host entry factor for Rift Valley fever virus. Cell. 2021 Sep 30;184(20):5163-5178.e24. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2021.09.001. Epub 2021 Sep 23. PMID: 34559985; PMCID: PMC8786218.
• Schwarz MM, Price DA, Ganaie SS, Feng A, Mishra N, Hoehl RM, Fatma F, Stubbs SH, Whelan SPJ, Cui X, Egawa T, Leung DW, Amarasinghe GK, Hartman AL. Oropouche orthobunyavirus infection is mediated by the cellular host factor Lrp1. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2022 Aug 16;119(33):e2204706119. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2204706119. Epub 2022 Aug 8. PMID: 35939689; PMCID: PMC9388146.