Most Popular Article on PLOS Pathogens for multiple weeks

Screen Capture from one of the many days the article maintained the home page

Recent PLOS Pathogens Publication by Mariah Hassert et al. under the guidance of James D. Brien Ph.D. and Amelia K. Pinto Ph.D.

On December 16, 2020, a research article titled "mRNA induced expression of human angiotensin-converting enzyme 2 in mice for the study of the adaptive immune response to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2" was published in the PLOS Pathogens Journal by Mariah Hassert, a Ph.D. Candidate student in the Molecular Microbiology-Immunology department. This research article, since being published has climbed its way to the front page of the journal where it has sat for multiple days as the most popular article of the journal. PLOS Pathogens focuses on publishing "outstanding original research and commentary that significantly advance the understanding of pathogens and how they interact with their host organisms" which is Hassert's main focus in her research. Hassert's research article has detailed her research into SARS-CoV-2 and its interaction with small animal models to help develop a deeper understanding of the recent pandemic of SARS-CoV-2. The lab has been working throughout the pandemic to help establish an accurate small animal model so that vaccine efficacy can be analyzed. This establishment of a model is critical to research development and Mariah Hassert has published this advancement in her article with the help of Elizabeth Geerling, E. Taylor Stone, Tara L. Steffen, Madi S. Feldman, Alexandria L. Dickson, Jacob Class, Justin M. Richner, James D. Brien, and Amelia K. Pinto.

The open-access peer-reviewed article can be found at https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1009163