Biograpgy
Dr. Gregory D. Gromowski is a Research Microbiologist at WRAIR. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Medical Microbiology and Immunology from the University of Wisconsin. Dr. Gromowski received a Doctorate in Experimental Pathology and Infectious Diseases from the University of Texas Medical Branch. He did Postdoctoral training at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), National Institutes of Health (NIH).
Dr. Gromowski has more than 15 years of experience conducting molecular virology research and vaccine development. He did undergraduate research on positive-strand RNA virus replication at the Institute for Molecular Virology at the University of Wisconsin. At the University of Texas Medical Branch, he characterized the structural basis of dengue virus neutralization by monoclonal antibodies as part of the Pediatric Dengue Vaccine Initiative. At NIAID, Dr. Gromowski developed recombinant, live attenuated Japanese encephalitis virus vaccine candidates and he also determined the genetic changes that were critical for virulence attenuation of the widely used, live Japanese encephalitis vaccine produced by Chengdu Institute of Biological products in China. Dr. Gromowski is currently the Chief of the Medical Countermeasures Department, and the interim Associate Branch Director within the Viral Diseases Branch at WRAIR. His research group is interested in developing and evaluating vaccines for medically important arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses) and he is funded by the Military Infectious Disease Research Program (MIDRP) to develop novel vaccine candidates for dengue and Zika. Dr. Gromowski’s laboratory also routinely performs and develops assays for arbovirus diagnostics, surveillance, and vaccine immunogenicity studies. His laboratory is currently conducting multiple serological surveillance studies funded by the Department of Defense, Global Emerging Infections Surveillance (GEIS) program to detect the frequency of arbovirus exposures in military and civilian personnel stationed in locations around the world.
Dr. Gromowski has been supported by multiple NIAID training grants, including the Emerging and Tropical Infectious Diseases T32 grant, the Biodefense T32 grant, and the NIH Intramural Research Training Award. He has received multiple travel awards to present his work at scientific conferences including the American Society of Virology Travel Award and the James W. McLaughlin Travel Award from the University of Texas Medical Branch. Dr. Gromowski received WRAIR Commander’s Coin awards for dengue research in 2018, for COVID-19 research in 2020, and a Numbered Coin Award for research quality and excellence in 2020. He serves as a subject matter expert on the Army Integrated Product Teams (IPT) for dengue and previously chikungunya and is a member of the MIDRP Viral Program Area Steering Committee and the GEIS Febrile and Vector-Borne Infections Scientific Review Board. He has been a co-author, reviewer, and Contract Officer Representative or Technical Point of Contact for multiple Army Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding opportunities for dengue vaccines and diagnostics. He has also been a reviewer for the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program (CDMRP), Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program (PRMRP). Dr. Gromowski also serves as an Academic Editor for the Public Library of Science journal, Neglected Tropical Diseases.
Publications
Goethals O, Kaptein SJF, Kesteleyn B, Bonfanti JF, Van Wesenbeeck L, Bardiot D, Verschoor EJ, Verstrepen BE, Fagrouch Z, Putnak JR, Kiemel D, Ackaert O, Straetemans R, Lachau-Durand S, Geluykens P, Crabbe M, Thys K, Stoops B, Lenz O, Tambuyzer L, De Meyer S, Dallmeier K, McCracken MK, Gromowski GD, Rutvisuttinunt W, Jarman RG, Karasavvas N, Touret F, Querat G, de Lamballerie X, Chatel-Chaix L, Milligan GN, Beasley DWC, Bourne N, Barrett ADT, Marchand A, Jonckers THM, Raboisson P, Simmen K, Chaltin P, Bartenschlager R, Bogers WM, Neyts J, Van Loock M. Blocking NS3-NS4B interaction inhibits dengue virus in non-human primates. Nature. 2023 Mar;615(7953):678-686. doi: 10.1038/s41586-023-05790-6. Epub 2023 Mar 15. PMID: 36922586; PMCID: PMC10033419.
Chen WH, Hajduczki A, Martinez EJ, Bai H, Matz H, Hill TM, Lewitus E, Chang WC, Dawit L, Peterson CE, Rees PA, Ajayi AB, Golub ES, Swafford I, Dussupt V, David S, Mayer SV, Soman S, Kuklis C, Corbitt C, King J, Choe M, Sankhala RS, Thomas PV, Zemil M, Wieczorek L, Hart T, Duso D, Kummer L, Yan L, Sterling SL, Laing ED, Broder CC, Williams JK, Davidson E, Doranz BJ, Krebs SJ, Polonis VR, Paquin-Proulx D, Rolland M, Reiley WW, Gromowski GD, Modjarrad K, Dooley H, Joyce MG. Shark nanobodies with potent SARS-CoV-2 neutralizing activity and broad sarbecovirus reactivity. Nat Commun. 2023 Feb 3;14(1):580. doi: 10.1038/s41467-023-36106-x. PMID: 36737435; PMCID: PMC9896449.
Pollett S, Kuklis CH, Barvir DA, Jarman RG, Romaine RM, Forshey BM, Gromowski GD. The seroepidemiology of dengue in a US military population based in Puerto Rico during the early phase of the Zika pandemic. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2022 Jan 21;16(1):e0009986. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0009986. PMID: 35061659; PMCID: PMC8846501.
Joyce MG, Chen WH, Sankhala RS, Hajduczki A, Thomas PV, Choe M, Martinez EJ, Chang WC, Peterson CE, Morrison EB, Smith C, Chen RE, Ahmed A, Wieczorek L, Anderson A, Case JB, Li Y, Oertel T, Rosado L, Ganesh A, Whalen C, Carmen JM, Mendez-Rivera L, Karch CP, Gohain N, Villar Z, McCurdy D, Beck Z, Kim J, Shrivastava S, Jobe O, Dussupt V, Molnar S, Tran U, Kannadka CB, Soman S, Kuklis C, Zemil M, Khanh H, Wu W, Cole MA, Duso DK, Kummer LW, Lang TJ, Muncil SE, Currier JR, Krebs SJ, Polonis VR, Rajan S, McTamney PM, Esser MT, Reiley WW, Rolland M, de Val N, Diamond MS, Gromowski GD, Matyas GR, Rao M, Michael NL, Modjarrad K. SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccines elicit broad SARS coronavirus immunogenicity. Cell Rep. 2021 Dec 21;37(12):110143. doi: 10.1016/j.celrep.2021.110143. Epub 2021 Dec 8. PMID: 34919799; PMCID: PMC8651551.
Joyce MG, King HAD, Elakhal-Naouar I, Ahmed A, Peachman KK, Macedo Cincotta C, Subra C, Chen RE, Thomas PV, Chen WH, Sankhala RS, Hajduczki A, Martinez EJ, Peterson CE, Chang WC, Choe M, Smith C, Lee PJ, Headley JA, Taddese MG, Elyard HA, Cook A, Anderson A, McGuckin Wuertz K, Dong M, Swafford I, Case JB, Currier JR, Lal KG, Molnar S, Nair MS, Dussupt V, Daye SP, Zeng X, Barkei EK, Staples HM, Alfson K, Carrion R, Krebs SJ, Paquin-Proulx D, Karasavva N, Polonis VR, Jagodzinski LL, Amare MF, Vasan S, Scott PT, Huang Y, Ho DD, de Val N, Diamond MS, Lewis MG, Rao M, Matyas GR, Gromowski GD, Peel SA, Michael NL, Bolton DL, Modjarrad K. A SARS-CoV-2 ferritin nanoparticle vaccine elicits protective immune responses in nonhuman primates. Sci Transl Med. 2022 Feb 16;14(632):eabi5735. doi: 10.1126/scitranslmed.abi5735. Epub 2022 Feb 16. PMID: 34914540.
King HAD, Joyce MG, Lakhal-Naouar I, Ahmed A, Cincotta CM, Subra C, Peachman KK, Hack HR, Chen RE, Thomas PV, Chen WH, Sankhala RS, Hajduczki A, Martinez EJ, Peterson CE, Chang WC, Choe M, Smith C, Headley JA, Elyard HA, Cook A, Anderson A, Wuertz KM, Dong M, Swafford I, Case JB, Currier JR, Lal KG, Amare MF, Dussupt V, Molnar S, Daye SP, Zeng X, Barkei EK, Alfson K, Staples HM, Carrion R, Krebs SJ, Paquin-Proulx D, Karasavvas N, Polonis VR, Jagodzinski LL, Vasan S, Scott PT, Huang Y, Nair MS, Ho DD, de Val N, Diamond MS, Lewis MG, Rao M, Matyas GR, Gromowski GD, Peel SA, Michael NL, Modjarrad K, Bolton DL. Efficacy and breadth of adjuvanted SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain nanoparticle vaccine in macaques. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2021 Sep 21;118(38):e2106433118. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2106433118. PMID: 34470866; PMCID: PMC8463842.
McCracken MK, Kuklis CH, Kannadka CB, Barvir DA, Sanborn MA, Waickman AT, Siegfried HC, Victor KA, Hatch KL, De La Barrera R, Walls SD, Rutvisuttinunt W, Currier JR, Friberg H, Jarman RG, Gromowski GD. Enhanced dengue vaccine virus replication and neutralizing antibody responses in immune primed rhesus macaques. NPJ Vaccines. 2021 May 21;6(1):77. doi: 10.1038/s41541-021-00339-y. PMID: 34021159; PMCID: PMC8140083.
McCracken MK, Gromowski GD, Garver LS, Goupil BA, Walker KD, Friberg H, Currier JR, Rutvisuttinunt W, Hinton KL, Christofferson RC, Mores CN, Vanloubbeeck Y, Lorin C, Malice MP, Thomas SJ, Jarman RG, Vaughn DW, Putnak JR, Warter L. Route of inoculation and mosquito vector exposure modulate dengue virus replication kinetics and immune responses in rhesus macaques. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2020 Apr 8;14(4):e0008191. doi: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0008191. PMID: 32267846; PMCID: PMC7141610.
Gromowski GD, Henein S, Kannadka CB, Barvir DA, Thomas SJ, de Silva AM, Jarman RG. Delineating the serotype-specific neutralizing antibody response to a live attenuated tetravalent dengue vaccine. Vaccine. 2018 Apr 25;36(18):2403-2410. doi: 10.1016/j.vaccine.2018.03.055. Epub 2018 Mar 27. PMID: 29602701.
Gromowski GD, Firestone CY, Whitehead SS. Genetic Determinants of Japanese Encephalitis Virus Vaccine Strain SA14-14-2 That Govern Attenuation of Virulence in Mice. J Virol. 2015 Jun;89(12):6328-37. doi: 10.1128/JVI.00219-15. Epub 2015 Apr 8. PMID: 25855730; PMCID: PMC4474313.