62379-Tilston-Lunel, Natasha

Natasha L. Tilston-Lunel, PhD

Assistant Professor of Microbiology & Immunology

Phone
(317) 274-5202
Address
MS 455
MCIM, Van Nuys Medical Science Building
Indianapolis, IN 46202
PubMed:

Bio

I obtained a PhD in Molecular Virology from the University of St Andrews, Scotland under the mentorship of late Prof. Richard M. Elliott. I studied about bunyaviruses in Richard's lab with a primary focus on Oropouche virus. In 2016, I moved to the US for my postdoctoral training with Prof. Paul W. Duprex, first at the NEIDL, Boston University followed by a few years at the Center for Vaccine Research (CVR), University of Pittsburgh. Here, my main focus was investigating the therapeutic use of defective interfering viral particles. Along with the rest of the CVR much of my work from 2020 until mid 2021 has been SARS-CoV-2 related.

In September 2022, the Tilston lab opened at IU with a focus on bunyaviruses and how they cause disease. To learn more check out www.thetilstonlab.org

Key Publications

  1. Bowen JM, Tilston NL. Climate change and the growing threat of bunyaviruses. J Virol. 2026 Jul 16:e0177225. doi: 10.1128/jvi.01772-25. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 42461032.

  2. Gunter KB, Bowen JM, Clarke AT, McFarlane M, Omoga DCA, Pozuelos S, Giesel H, Witt C, Rogers LM, Aronoff DM, Lunel AM, Vornhagen J, Brennan B, Tilston NL. Conserved pathogenesis of ancestral and contemporary Oropouche virus strains in a murine pregnancy model. Nat Commun. 2026 May 12;17(1):6542. doi: 10.1038/s41467-026-72711-2. PMID: 42115164.

  3. Bowen JM, Gunter K, Omoga DCA, Giesel H, Jones J, Lunel AM, Duprex WP, Tilston NL. Probing orthobunyavirus reassortment using Bunyamwera and Batai viruses as models. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases. 2025 May;19(5):e0013120. PubMed PMID: 40445997.

  4. Tilston-Lunel NL, (2024) Oropouche virus: An emerging orthobunyavirus, review, Journal of General Virology 105(9): doi: 10.1099/jgv.0.002027. PMID: 39351896.

  5. Gunter K, Omoga D, Bowen MJ, Gonzalez LR, Severt S, Davis M, Szymanski M, Sandusky G, Duprex WP, Tilston-Lunel NL, (2024) A reporter Oropouche virus expressing ZsGreen from the M segment enables pathogenesis studies in mice. Journal of Virology, 98(9):e0089324. doi: 10.1128/jvi.00893-24.  PMID: 39194249.

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