The microbiome most simply refers to a community of microorganisms such as fungi, bacteria, or viruses, that exist in a particular environment and change in response to environmental factors. In humans, the microbiome refers to the microorganisms that live in/on a particular part of the body like skin.
Viruses are the causative agents of approximately 12% of human cancers. The most recently discovered herpesvirus, Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is known to cause three human canc...
The transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) to pathogenic microbes is a major concern in modern medicine. Antibiotic therapies are often rendered ineffective by horizontal acquisiti...
The host response to infection is a critical determinant of virus pathogenicity. Emerging viruses require the host cellular machinery to replicate and successfully infect new hosts, and must...
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that is caused by the immune system’s inability to respond appropriately to an infection. How sepsis can change the gut microbiome in ways that a...
Asthma is an increasing health concern affecting more than 25 million individuals in the United States and more than 300 million individuals worldwide. In some cases, sensitization or exposu...
Epidemics are occurring at an increasing pace and scale. Our laboratory group has developed platform technologies for discovery of broad and potent neutralizing antibodies for many emerging...
HIV currently infects almost 40 million people worldwide. The virus is responsible for ~2 million new infections per year and ~1 million deaths. Like all retroviruses, HIV integrates a viral...
My group is addressing fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, using both genome- and phenotype-first approaches. A few years ago, we discovered that Arabidopsis thaliana is a great m...
To establish productive infection, plant viruses need to be able to efficiently invade and spread within a plant. Most viruses are introduced into a plant via the epidermal or mesophyll cell...
Prokaryotic DNA contains three types of methylation: N6-methyladenine, N4-methylcytosine and 5-methylcytosine. The lack of tools to analyse the frequency and distribution of methylated resid...
Human chromosome 19q13.4 contains genes encoding killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR). The region has certain properties such as single nucleotide variation, structural variation,...
Influenza severity is determined by the interplay between the virus and the host response. Previously, we identified a three-pronged lung gene expression signature that predicted severe infl...
As a response to various inflammatory stimuli, neutrophils and macrophages expel a mixture of their nuclear and granular elements in the form of extracellular traps (ETs). These web-like sub...
The statement by Dimitri Ivanovsky in 1882 that "the sap of leaves infected with tobacco mosaic disease retains its infectious properties even after filtration through Chamberland filte...
The regions of our genome responsible for encoding the genes that regulate our immune response are some of the most complex and polymorphic known. This complexity encompasses multiple types...
Traditionally, virology has been focused in studying the pathogenic effect of viruses. In the recent years, however, this perception is changing and viruses are being studied as mutualistic...
Over the last several decades, antibodies (Abs) have become a valuable weapon in the fight against viral infections, with several studies demonstrating the importance of both neutralizing an...
Most currently used conventional influenza vaccines are based on 1940s technology. Advances in immunogen design and vaccine delivery emerging over the last decade open novel opportunities fo...
The recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 underscores the need for understanding the evolutionary processes that drive the emergence and adaptation of zoonotic viruses in humans. Here, we show that...
Over the past five years there has been an explosion of research the deep learning field. Companies like Google, Facebook, and OpenAI have created neural networks that are significantly more...
While viral fusion proteins are highly desirable for subunit vaccine generation, their inherent metastable nature complicates implementation and development. We have harnessed the structural...
Background: Haemophilus influenzae is the causative agent of multiple human disease conditions among multiple sites in the human body. Underlying genetic mechanisms are elusive, particularly...
The receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein mediates viral attachment to ACE2 receptor, and is a major determinant of host range and a dominant target of neutraliz...
While the frequency of pandemic threats seems to be increasing, we fortunately have new tools and technologies to make vaccines with more precision and speed and that support a more proactiv...
Viruses are the causative agents of approximately 12% of human cancers. The most recently discovered herpesvirus, Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus (KSHV) is known to cause three human canc...
The transfer of antimicrobial resistance genes (ARG) to pathogenic microbes is a major concern in modern medicine. Antibiotic therapies are often rendered ineffective by horizontal acquisiti...
The host response to infection is a critical determinant of virus pathogenicity. Emerging viruses require the host cellular machinery to replicate and successfully infect new hosts, and must...
Sepsis is a life-threatening condition that is caused by the immune system’s inability to respond appropriately to an infection. How sepsis can change the gut microbiome in ways that a...
Asthma is an increasing health concern affecting more than 25 million individuals in the United States and more than 300 million individuals worldwide. In some cases, sensitization or exposu...
Epidemics are occurring at an increasing pace and scale. Our laboratory group has developed platform technologies for discovery of broad and potent neutralizing antibodies for many emerging...
HIV currently infects almost 40 million people worldwide. The virus is responsible for ~2 million new infections per year and ~1 million deaths. Like all retroviruses, HIV integrates a viral...
My group is addressing fundamental questions in evolutionary biology, using both genome- and phenotype-first approaches. A few years ago, we discovered that Arabidopsis thaliana is a great m...
To establish productive infection, plant viruses need to be able to efficiently invade and spread within a plant. Most viruses are introduced into a plant via the epidermal or mesophyll cell...
Prokaryotic DNA contains three types of methylation: N6-methyladenine, N4-methylcytosine and 5-methylcytosine. The lack of tools to analyse the frequency and distribution of methylated resid...
Human chromosome 19q13.4 contains genes encoding killer-cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR). The region has certain properties such as single nucleotide variation, structural variation,...
Influenza severity is determined by the interplay between the virus and the host response. Previously, we identified a three-pronged lung gene expression signature that predicted severe infl...
As a response to various inflammatory stimuli, neutrophils and macrophages expel a mixture of their nuclear and granular elements in the form of extracellular traps (ETs). These web-like sub...
The statement by Dimitri Ivanovsky in 1882 that "the sap of leaves infected with tobacco mosaic disease retains its infectious properties even after filtration through Chamberland filte...
The regions of our genome responsible for encoding the genes that regulate our immune response are some of the most complex and polymorphic known. This complexity encompasses multiple types...
Traditionally, virology has been focused in studying the pathogenic effect of viruses. In the recent years, however, this perception is changing and viruses are being studied as mutualistic...
Over the last several decades, antibodies (Abs) have become a valuable weapon in the fight against viral infections, with several studies demonstrating the importance of both neutralizing an...
Most currently used conventional influenza vaccines are based on 1940s technology. Advances in immunogen design and vaccine delivery emerging over the last decade open novel opportunities fo...
The recent outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 underscores the need for understanding the evolutionary processes that drive the emergence and adaptation of zoonotic viruses in humans. Here, we show that...
Over the past five years there has been an explosion of research the deep learning field. Companies like Google, Facebook, and OpenAI have created neural networks that are significantly more...
While viral fusion proteins are highly desirable for subunit vaccine generation, their inherent metastable nature complicates implementation and development. We have harnessed the structural...
Background: Haemophilus influenzae is the causative agent of multiple human disease conditions among multiple sites in the human body. Underlying genetic mechanisms are elusive, particularly...
The receptor binding domain (RBD) of the SARS-CoV-2 spike glycoprotein mediates viral attachment to ACE2 receptor, and is a major determinant of host range and a dominant target of neutraliz...
While the frequency of pandemic threats seems to be increasing, we fortunately have new tools and technologies to make vaccines with more precision and speed and that support a more proactiv...
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