Norman P. Salzman Memorial Awards and Symposium in Basic and Clinical Virology

The Norman P. Salzman Memorial Awards in Basic and Clinical Virology recognize outstanding research at the NIH, U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Fort Detrick Laboratories, LEIDOS, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences. The awards honor the 40-year career of Dr. Norman P. Salzman in virology research and his accomplishments in mentoring young scientists.

Awardees gave talks at the 26th Annual Norman P. Salzman Memorial Symposium in Basic and Clinical Virology, which also highlighted current research of eminent extramural and NIH intramural virologists. This event took place at Lipsett Amphitheater in the NIH Clinical Center on Thursday, Dec. 5, 2024.

The Symposium and Awards are hosted by the Foundation for the National Institutes of Health (FNIH), the NIH Virology Interest Group and the Salzman Organizing Committee.

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2024 Norman P. Salzman Memorial Award Recipients

Post-Doctoral Awardee

Nagela Ghabdan Zanluqui, PhD, MS
Viral Immunology and Intravital Imaging Section, National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS), NIH

Dr. Zanluqui is an immunologist with a fundamental interest in how the central nervous system (CNS) defends itself against viruses. Originally from Brazil, she earned her doctorate from the University of São Paulo and a master of science from the Carlos Chagas Institute/FIOCRUZ. During her doctoral studies, she demonstrated that Zika virus can utilize neutrophils to traverse the placenta, reaching the fetal brain and contributing to developmental malformations.

With her NINDS mentor, Dorian McGavern, PhD, she delved deeply into the anatomy, immunology, and virology of the dura mater, a vulnerable barrier system that surrounds the CNS. Her exciting research led to the discovery of the rostral-rhinal venolymphatic hub, a previously unappreciated lymphoid structure surrounding fenestrated venous plexuses in the dura mater. She demonstrated that this structure can support local humoral immune responses and generate class-switched antibody production against an invading neurotropic virus. This is an important observation because it shows that the CNS has organized lymphoid structures and can defend itself along its borders.

Currently, Dr. Zanluqui is investigating how the rostral-rhinal hub maintains meningeal homeostasis and whether viral infections can trigger autoimmunity by disrupting tolerance to CNS antigens in this location.

Post-Baccalaureate Awardee

Walker Symonds-Orr
Laboratory of Viral Diseases, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, NIH

Mr. Symonds-Orr moved to Maryland from Washington state two years ago for his post-baccalaureate fellowship in the lab of Patrick Dolan, PhD. During his fellowship, he investigated the tolerance of Enterovirus A71 to insertions, deletions, and substitutions, with a special focus on how mutations shaped the diversification of Enterovirus Species A. They found that sites tolerant to insertions and deletions are concentrated in the capsid region and relatively stable throughout the diversification of Enterovirus Species A, indicating limited genetic “real estate” available for diversification through indels. In addition, they used high-throughput insertion screening to develop a toolbox for endogenously labeling viral proteins and investigating their functions in the context of infection.

Recently, he made the decision to stay on the east coast to continue his dissertation research at NIH. Mr. Symonds-Orr is currently a graduate student at the University of Maryland, College Park. In the future, he looks forward to focusing on receptor-use transitions in Enterovirus A, developing ex-vivo models of human Enterovirus infections at primary sites, and valency trade-offs in vaccination strategies.