Vivek Kapur

About

Vivek Kapur, BVSc, Ph.D., is a Professor of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and holds the Huck Distinguished Chair in Global Health. He serves as the Associate Director of the Huck Institutes of Life Sciences and is an Adjunct Professor at the Nelson Mandela African Institute of Science and Technology in Arusha, Tanzania. His research focuses on infectious diseases, particularly tuberculosis, bovine tuberculosis, and zoonotic infections, with extensive work on the molecular detection, characterization, and epidemiology of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex and other pathogens affecting both humans and animals. Kapur's contributions include studying the association between livestock exposures and human tuberculosis, developing diagnostic tests for bovine tuberculosis, and investigating the transmission dynamics of zoonotic diseases such as brucellosis and peste des petits ruminants virus. His work emphasizes the One Health approach, integrating human, animal, and environmental health to address infectious disease challenges globally.

Research topics

• Virology
• Medicine
• Biology
• Internal medicine
• Immunology
• Veterinary medicine
• Genetics
• Zoology
• Cell biology
• Chemistry

Selected publications

• Multiple spillovers from humans and onward transmission of SARS-CoV-2 in white-tailed deer

  Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · 2022 · 259 citations

  Senior authorCorresponding

  = 19; 20%) accounting for ∼75% of all samples. The geographic distribution and nesting of clusters of deer and human lineages strongly suggest multiple human-to-deer transmission events followed by subsequent deer-to-deer spread. These discoveries have important implications for the long-term persistence of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. Our findings highlight an urgent need for a robust and proactive "One Health" approach to obtain enhanced understanding of the ecology, molecular evolution, and disse…

  DOI

• Convalescent plasma anti–SARS-CoV-2 spike protein ectodomain and receptor-binding domain IgG correlate with virus neutralization

  Journal of Clinical Investigation · 2020 · 206 citations

  The newly emerged severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) highlights the urgent need for assays that detect protective levels of neutralizing antibodies. We studied the relationship among anti-spike ectodomain (anti-ECD), anti-receptor-binding domain (anti-RBD) IgG titers, and SARS-CoV-2 virus neutralization (VN) titers generated by 2 in vitro assays using convalescent plasma samples from 68 patients with COVID-19. We report a strong positive correlation between both plasma…

  DOI

• Neutralizing Aptamers Block S/RBD‐ACE2 Interactions and Prevent Host Cell Infection

  Angewandte Chemie International Edition · 2021 · 123 citations

  ≈5 nM). Importantly, aptamers were able to neutralize S protein-expressing viral particles and prevent host cell infection, suggesting a promising COVID-19 therapy strategy.

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Relationship between Anti-Spike Protein Antibody Titers and SARS-CoV-2 <i>In Vitro</i> Virus Neutralization in Convalescent Plasma

  bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) · 2020 · 71 citations

  VN titer. Anti-RBD plasma IgG correlated slightly better than anti-ECD IgG titer with VN titer. The probability of a VN titer ≥160 was 80% or greater with anti-RBD or anti-ECD titers of ≥1:1350. Thirty-seven percent (25/68) of convalescent plasma donors lacked VN titers ≥160, the FDA-recommended level for convalescent plasma used for COVID-19 treatment. Dyspnea, hospitalization, and disease severity were significantly associated with higher VN titer. Frequent donation of convalescent plasma did…

  DOI

• BCG vaccination reduces bovine tuberculosis transmission, improving prospects for elimination

  Science · 2024-03-28 · 38 citations

  articleOpen accessSenior authorCorresponding

  Bacillus Calmette-Guérin (BCG) is a routinely used vaccine for protecting children against Mycobacterium tuberculosis that comprises attenuated Mycobacterium bovis . BCG can also be used to protect livestock against M. bovis ; however, its effectiveness has not been quantified for this use. We performed a natural transmission experiment to directly estimate the rate of transmission to and from vaccinated and unvaccinated calves over a 1-year exposure period. The results show a higher indirect ef…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

Recent grants

• NIH Grant R29AI040365

  NIH · $511k · 2002

• Detection of M. paratuberulosis in Crohn's Disease

  NIH · $372k · 2014–2017

Frequent coauthors

• James M. Musser

  Cornell University

  90 shared

• Suresh V. Kuchipudi

  University of Pittsburgh

  64 shared

• John P. Bannantine

  National Animal Disease Center

  63 shared

• Isabella M. Cattadori

  Pennsylvania State University

  54 shared

• Robab Katani

  Pennsylvania State University

  53 shared

• Douwe Bakker

  HKV (Netherlands)

  52 shared

• Andrew J. K. Conlan

  University of Cambridge

  50 shared

• Sreenidhi Srinivasan

  Pennsylvania State University

  49 shared

Labs

• Vivek Kapur LaboratoryPI

Education

• Other, Veterinary Science

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• Ph.D., Not specified in the provided HTML

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