Megan Freeman, MD, PhD

  • Assistant Professor, Department of Pediatrics
  • Division of Infectious Diseases
  • Member of the i4kids
  • Center for Vaccine Research

Education & Training

  • BS Agricultural and Medical Biotechnology, University of Kentucky, 2008
  • PhD, Pathology, Microbiology, and Immunology, Vanderbilt University, 2014
  • MD, Medicine, Vanderbilt University, 2016
  • Postdoc: University of Pittsburgh 2019-2022

Research Interest Summary

Picornavirus, Enterovirus, Virus, Organoid, Host Pathogen Interaction

Research Interests

The Freeman laboratory studies picornaviruses with central nervous system tropism using human tissue models (organoids) of relevant sites derived from induced, pluripotent stem cells. Our current focus is on how enterovirus D68 (EV-D68) mediates acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a polio-like illness, by using a novel human spinal cord organoid model. AFM results in paralysis in previously healthy children due to spinal cord damage, leading to lifelong increased medical needs. It is unknown how EV-D68 causes paralysis and effective medicines do not exist. Understanding how EV-D68 infection leads to spinal cord damage could lead to new medications, prevention, or treatment strategies for these viruses, leading to improved care of children with AFM. Our work is also supported by patient-derived samples (human cell and viral) to better understand how specific viral genotypes and specific host factors contribute to pathogenesis of this rare condition.

Publications

  • Freeman MC, Wells AI, Ciomperlik-Patton J, Myerburg MM, Yang L, Konopka-Anstadt J, and Coyne C. “Respiratory and Intestinal Epithelial Cells Exhibit Differential Susceptibility and Innate Immune Responses to EV-D68.” ELife 10 (2021): e66687. https://doi.org/10.7554/elife.66687.
  • Freeman MC, Peek CT, Becker MM, Smith EC, and Denison MR. “Coronaviruses Induce Entry-Independent, Continuous Macropinocytosis.” mBio 5, no. 4 (July 2014): e01340-14-e01340-14. https://doi.org/10.1128/mbio.01340-14.
  • Freeman MC, Graham RL, Lu X, Peek CT, and Denison MR. “Coronavirus Replicase-Reporter Fusions Provide Quantitative Analysis of Replication and Replication Complex Formation.” Journal of Virology 88, no. 10 (May 2014): 5319–27. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.00021-14.
  • Wang L, Shi W, Joyce MG, Modjarrad K, Zhang Y, Leung K, Lees CR, Zhou T, Yassine HM, Kanekiyo M, Yang Z, Chen X, Becker M, Freeman MC, Vogel L, Johnson J, Olinger G, Todd JP, Bagci U, Solomaon J, Mollura DJ, Hensley L, Jahrling P, Denison MR, Rao SS, Subbarao K, Kwong PD, Mascola JR, Kong W, Graham, BS. “Evaluation of Candidate Vaccine Approaches for MERS-CoV.” Nature Communications 6, no. 1 (1AD): 1–11. https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms8712.
  • Smith EC, Culler MR, Hellman LM, Fried MG, Creamer TP, and Dutch RE. “Beyond Anchoring: The Expanding Role of the Hendra Virus Fusion Protein Transmembrane Domain in Protein Folding, Stability, and Function.” Journal of Virology 86, no. 6 (March 2012): 3003–13. https://doi.org/10.1128/JVI.05762-11.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/myncbi/1LOo8OkAPaiE5w/bibliography/public/