Dr. John Lednicky has broad training and experience in microbiology and molecular biology, and performs both basic and applied research. He has worked with various bacteria, fungi, and viruses, some of which are select agents, in a variety of settings that include A/BSL3 laboratories.
Dr. Lednicky's current focus areas are: (a) Aerovirology, (b) Effects of nanoparticle deposition in the lungs on respiratory virus infections, (c) Natural killer T cell agonists for control of influenza, (d)Virus discovery, (e) Respiratory virus transmission, (f) Arboviruses and their arthropod vectors, and (g) Identification and genetic sequence analyses of hemorrhagic viruses of Florida deer. His laboratory was the first to detect Zika and Mayaro viruses in Haiti, and has performed sequence analyses of Asian-lineage Chikungunya, and Dengue and other viruses isolated from Haitians or mosquitoes trapped in Haiti. His laboratory also isolated and sequenced African-lineage Chikungunya viruses in mosquitoes from Haiti (these viruses to date have only been found in Africa and in a minority of specimens in Brazil). He is now also analyzing viruses from Venezuelan patients.