Viral Manipulation of Cellular Anti-viral Signaling
Cells express numerous sensors to detect viral infection. Upon detection of viral components, cells enter an anti-viral state that limits viral spread. Many viruses express genes that antagonize the establishment of this anti-viral state so as to support infection. A major project in the lab is to elucidate the mechanisms through which viral gene products modify the sensing, establishment, and down-stream implementation of the anti-viral state. We couple viral recombineering and CRISPR-mediated cellular DNA editing with classical biochemical and LC-MS/MS-based proteomic techniques to dissect these issues. Increasing our understanding of these mechanisms is a prerequisite towards our long term goal of targeting them to limit virally-associated pathogenesis.
