Graduate Student, Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology
I am a first-year graduate student working towards my PhD in the department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology in the Burke lab at Mizzou. Previously, my work has been in the Fehr lab at the University of Kansas, where I was able to study the interactions of coronaviruses with host defense systems. We were interested in how viruses interfere in cellular pathways that target viral proteins for destruction and send signals to the immune system to indicate viral infections. Our research looked at the differences in binding and hydrolysis of the coronavirus macrodomain on ADP-ribose and the associated interferon response. Our goal was to use these studies to find essential regions in coronavirus proteins, in order to develop targets for treatment. In the future I hope to continue to study the interactions between viruses and cellular defense systems, as well as to improve our ability to target specific cells for treatment.
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