Postdoctoral Fellow
soner.yildiz@mssm.edu
Research Interests
Being an obligate intracellular parasite with a limited number of proteins, Influenza A Virus (IAV) heavily depends on host proteins to complete a successful replication cycle. There is a tremendous body of literature on host factors required for efficient production of viral progeny as well as on host proteins that have suppressive roles on IAV infection. Through interaction with these host proteins, IAV evolved ways to evade such restriction factors and also manipulate host-cell signaling pathways for its own benefit, e.g. inhibition of interferon mediated antiviral response by the viral protein NS1. My specific focus is trying to further investigate the biology of IAV infection in context of host cell metabolism and possible manipulation of metabolic pathways by IAV, in order to identify targets for novel anti-viral strategies.
Notable Publications
Mazel-Sanchez B, Yildiz S, Schmolke M. Ménage à trois: Virus, Host, and Microbiota in Experimental Infection Models. Trends Microbiol. 2019 May;27(5):440-452. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2018.12.004. Epub 2019 Jan 9. Review.
Yángüez E, Hunziker A, Dobay MP, Yildiz S, Schading S, Elshina E, Karakus U, Gehrig P, Grossmann J, Dijkman R, Schmolke M, Stertz S. Phosphoproteomic-based kinase profiling early in influenza virus infection identifies GRK2 as antiviral drug target. Nat Commun. 2018 Sep 11;9(1):3679.
Yildiz S, Mazel-Sanchez B, Kandasamy M, Manicassamy B, Schmolke M. Influenza A virus infection impacts systemic microbiota dynamics and causes quantitative enteric dysbiosis. Microbiome. 2018 Jan 10; 6(1):9.
Yildiz S, Alpdundar E, Gungor B, Kahraman T, Bayyurt B, Gursel I, Gursel M. Enhanced immunostimulatory activity of cyclic dinucleotides on mouse cells when complexed with a cell penetrating peptide or combined with CpG. Eur J Immunol. 2015 Apr; 45(4):1170-9.
Gungor B, Yagci FC, Tincer G, Bayyurt B, Alpdundar E, Yildiz S, Ozcan M, Gursel I, Gursel M. CpG ODN nanorings induce IFNα from plasmacytoid dendritic cells and demonstrate potent vaccine adjuvant activity. Sci Transl Med. 2014 May 7; 6(235):235ra61.