COUNTER-DISEASE ENGINEERING
SHEMESH LAB
NEWS
Stay in the Loop: Exciting Updates from the Counter-Disease Engineering Group!
February / 2026
Sally Einstein Brain Research Program established at The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The University extends its warmest congratulations to Dr. Or Shemesh and his team at the Hebrew University School of Pharmacy on receiving this prestigious award. Their two-year research project, titled “The Infectious Etiology of Brain Disease,” will pioneer a cross-disciplinary approach to understanding how pathogens contribute to some of the world’s most challenging neurological conditions.
The Shemesh Lab will investigate the role of infectious agents in a broad spectrum of brain diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, PANDAS & PANS, ALS, Parkinson’s disease, and epilepsy. While these conditions are often studied in isolation, Dr. Shemesh’s team aims to identify shared pathways and pathogens that may drive brain pathology across all of them.
February / 2026
Richard King Mellon Foundation Grant
A major research grant from the Richard King Mellon Foundation brings together three institutions to launch a new collaborative project called “Mapping Pathogen Contributions to Aging.”
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Alongside Yongxin Zhao, PhD, from Carnegie Mellon University, and Ed Boyden, PhD, from MIT, Or Shemesh, PhD, is representing the University of Pittsburgh with the Shemesh Lab, which studies counter-disease engineering. The lab is “making new tools to study, mitigate, and reverse devastating diseases of the nervous system,” according to its website.
January / 2026
Office of the Senior Vice Chancellor for Research · Annual Report 2024-25
A Connection Between Herpesvirus and Alzheimer's Disease.
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"Shemesh’s research not only broadens the understanding of Alzheimer’s etiology but also opens a new avenue for therapeutic development, targeting the root causes of neurodegeneration through infection biology and immune modulation."
January / 2025
Shemesh Lab Published Paper by Vanesa R. Hyde et al.
"Anti-herpetic tau preserves neurons via the cGAS-STING-TBK1 pathway in Alzheimer’s disease"
Our investigation, using metagenomics, mass spectrometry, western blotting, and decrowding expansion pathology, detects HSV-1-associated proteins in human brain samples. Expression of the herpesvirus protein ICP27 increases with AD severity and strongly colocalizes with p-tau but not with Aβ. Modeling in human brain organoids shows that HSV-1 infection elevates tau phosphorylation. Notably, p-tau reduces ICP27 expression and markedly decreases post-infection neuronal death from 64% to 7%. This modeling prompts investigation into the cGAS-STING-TBK1 pathway products, nuclear factor (NF)-κB and IRF-3, which colocalizes with ICP27 and p-tau in AD. Furthermore, experimental activation of STING enhances tau phosphorylation, while TBK1 inhibition prevents it. Together, these findings suggest that tau phosphorylation acts as an innate immune response in AD, driven by cGAS-STING.
October / 2023
ID Seminar Series: "Infectious Etiology of Alzheimer's Disease"
Special guest, Or Shemesh, PhD, with his presentation, “The Infectious Etiology of Alzheimer’s Disease.” Dr. Shemesh is an Assistant Professor at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, in the Departments of Bioengineering.
July / 2023
Alzheimer’s Association International Conference (AAIC®) | Amsterdam, Netherlands
AAIC is the largest and most influential international meeting dedicated to advancing dementia science. Each year, AAIC convenes the world’s leading scientist to share breaking research discoveries. Vanesa R. Hyde presenting her poster at AAIC titled "HSV-1 Proteins Drive Alzheimer's Disease Pathologies in Humans"