Rate My Professor Maria Forlenza

Forlenza's work focuses on comparative immunology, investigating the evolution of the vertebrate immune system, host-pathogen interactions, and vaccine development, particularly in fish (zebrafish, common carp, tilapia), chickens, and pigs. She has characterized functions of cytokines such as TNFα (lacking conserved pro-inflammatory activity but inducing behavioral fever) and IL-10 (conserved anti-inflammatory roles), along with scavenger receptors, Toll-like receptors, macrophage polarization, and trained immunity in fish. Key host-pathogen studies cover SVCV and KHV infections in carp, TiLV in tilapia, trypanosome infections in cyprinids (including zebrafish model with foamy macrophages), and IBV evasion of type I IFN via nsp15-mediated host protein shutoff. Her vaccine research includes DNA vaccination against SVCV achieving up to 100% protection in carp at 0.1 μg/g doses, and mucosal vaccination using recombinant viral vectors or replicon particles, detailed in highly cited reviews. Recent publications comprise "Coronavirus endoribonuclease nsp15 suppresses host protein synthesis and evades PKR-eIF2α-mediated translation shutoff to ensure viral protein synthesis" (2025, PLoS Pathogens), "Distinct distribution and responses of IgM+, IgT1+ and IgT2+ B cells in common carp" (2024, Frontiers in Immunology), and "Application of CRISPR/Cas9 for Rapid Genome Editing of Pseudorabies Virus and Bovine Herpesvirus-1" (2024, Viruses). She currently co-leads projects on aquaculture infrastructure and pump-priming, and develops fish intestinal organoids to advance the 3Rs principles.