The goal of the laboratory of Scott Hensley is to combat seasonal influenza, which contributes to many annual deaths across the world. The Hensley laboratory uses basic virology and immunology techniques to understand how seasonal influenza eludes our immune system, making an annual influenza vaccine necessary. Hensley and his colleagues at The Wistar Institute Vaccine Center are also in pursuit of a “universal vaccine” for seasonal influenza, a single vaccine that will enable people to forgo an annual flu shot.

Hensley came to Wistar as an assistant professor in 2010 from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) of the National Institutes of Health. Hensley studied biology as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware and went on to earn a Ph.D. in Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Pennsylvania in 2006. In 2007, he began a postdoctoral fellowship at NIAID and subsequently distinguished himself in immunology circles for his work on antigenic drift, the evolutionary changes in the outer coating of the influenza virus that allows the flu to change from year to year.

Since returning to Wistar, Hensley has continued studying the molecular mechanisms that allow antigenic drift to occur and is determining how the human immune system generates antibodies to influenza. Hensley hopes to combine these two paths in order to create a vaccine that will generate antibodies that will attack targets that are less likely to mutate from season to season, which may make annual flu shots a thing of the past.

1 - Myers JL, Hensley SE., Oseltamivir-resistant influenza viruses get by with a little help from permissive mutations., Expert Review on Anti-Infective Therapy. 2011 Apr;9(4):385-8., 21504394

2 - Hensley SE, Das SR, Gibbs JS, Bailey AL, Schmidt LM, Bennink JR, Yewdell JW., Influenza A virus hemagglutinin antibody escape promotes neuraminidase antigenic variation and drug resistance., PLoS One. 2011 Feb 22;6(2):e15190., 21364978

3 - Das SR, Puigbo P, Hensley SE, Hurt DE, Bennink JR, Yewdell JW., Glycosylation focuses sequence variation in the influenza A virus H1 hemagglutinin globular domain., PLoS Pathogens. 2010 Nov 24;6(11):e1001211., 21124818

4 - Hensley SE, Zanker D, Dolan BP, et al., Unexpected role for the immunoproteasome subunit LMP2 in antiviral humoral and innate immune responses., Journal of Immunology. 2010 Apr 15;184(8):4115-22. [Epub 2010 Mar 12], 20228196

5 - Hensley SE, Das SR, Bailey AL, et al., Hemagglutinin receptor binding avidity drives influenza A virus antigenic drift., Science. 2009 Oct 30;326(5953):734-6., 19900932

6 - Hensley SE, Yewdell JW., Que sera, sera: evolution of the swine H1N1 influenza A virus., Expert review of anti-infective therapy. 2009 Sep;7(7):763-8. [Editorial], 19735217

7 - Hensley SE, Pinto AK, Hickman HD, Kastenmayer RJ, Bennink JR, Virgin HW, Yewdell JW., Murine norovirus infection has no significant effect on adaptive immunity to vaccinia virus or influenza A virus., Journal of Virology. 2009 Jul;83(14):7357-60. [Epub 2009 Apr 29], 19403665

8 - Pichla-Gollon SL, Lin SW, Hensley SE, Lasaro MO, Herkenhoff-Haut L, Drinker M, Tatsis N, et al., Ertl HC, Bergelson JM., Effect of preexisting immunity on an adenovirus vaccine vector: in vitro neutralization assays fail to predict inhibition by antiviral antibody in vivo., Journal of Virology. 2009 Jun;83(11):5567-73. [Epub 2009 Mar 11], 19279092

9 - Wolf AI, Buehler D, Hensley SE, Cavanagh LL, Wherry EJ, Kastner P, Chan S, Weninger W., Plasmacytoid dendritic cells are dispensable during primary influenza virus infection., Journal of Immunology. 2009 Jan 15;182(2):871-9., 19124730

10 - Lasaro MO, Tatsis N, Hensley SE, Whitbeck JC, Lin SW, Rux JJ, Wherry EJ, Cohen GH, Eisenberg RJ, Ertl HC., Targeting of antigen to the herpesvirus entry mediator augments primary adaptive immune responses., Nature Medicine. 2008 Feb; 14(2):205-12. [Epub 2008 Jan 13], 18193057