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Andrew J. Varble, Ph.D.

Andrew J. Varble, Ph.D.

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About Me

Faculty Appointments

Assistant Professor - Department of Microbiology and Immunology (SMD)

Credentials

Post-doctoral Training & Residency

Rockefeller University 2014 - 2022

Education

PhD | Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Biomedical Sciences. 2014

BS | Rochester Institute of Technology. Biotechnology. 2008

Research

The Varble Lab studies the ability of bacteria to quickly adapt to drastic changes in their environment. Bacteria have evolved the ability to acquire new genetic material through horizontal gene transfer, allowing evolutionary timescales that can be measured in minutes. Although new genetic material...
The Varble Lab studies the ability of bacteria to quickly adapt to drastic changes in their environment. Bacteria have evolved the ability to acquire new genetic material through horizontal gene transfer, allowing evolutionary timescales that can be measured in minutes. Although new genetic material can be beneficial, it often presents a paradox for the bacteria because it comes in the form of selfish genetic elements, such as viruses, referred to as phage, that either kill or consume resources from the cell.

To investigate this dynamic we study Staphylococcus and Streptococcus, the phage that infects them, and the systems used to defend against infection. We have a particular focus on a bacterial adaptive immune system called CRISPR, best known for its genome editing capabilities, and how this system interacts with phage. By gaining a better understanding of the mediators and barriers of horizontal gene transfer we hope to gain insight into how pathogenesis and antibiotic resistance develops, while also further developing molecular tools for genetic manipulation.

Email: andrew_varble@urmc.rochester.edu

Publications

Journal Articles

An efficient -inducible CRISPR interference system for group A genetic analysis and pathogenesis studies.

Bjånes E, Stream A, Janssen AB, Gibson PS, Bravo AM, Dahesh S, Baker JL, Varble A, Nizet V, Veening J-W

mBio.. 2024 August 1415 (8):e0084024. Epub 07/02/2024.

Cleavage of viral DNA by restriction endonucleases stimulates the type II CRISPR-Cas immune response.

Maguin P, Varble A, Modell JW, Marraffini LA

Molecular cell.. 2022 March 382 (5):907-919.e7. Epub 02/07/2022.

Prophage integration into CRISPR loci enables evasion of antiviral immunity in Streptococcus pyogenes.

Varble A, Campisi E, Euler CW, Maguin P, Kozlova A, Fyodorova J, Rostøl JT, Fischetti VA, Marraffini LA

Nature microbiology.. 2021 December 6 (12):1516-1525. Epub 11/24/2021.

RecT Recombinase Expression Enables Efficient Gene Editing in spp.

Chen V, Griffin ME, Maguin P, Varble A, Hang HC

Applied and environmental microbiology.. 2021 August 2687 (18):e0084421. Epub 08/26/2021.

Type III-A CRISPR immunity promotes mutagenesis of staphylococci.

Mo CY, Mathai J, Rostøl JT, Varble A, Banh DV, Marraffini LA

Nature.. 2021 April 592 (7855):611-615. Epub 04/07/2021.

Recombination between phages and CRISPR-cas loci facilitates horizontal gene transfer in staphylococci.

Varble A, Meaden S, Barrangou R, Westra ER, Marraffini LA

Nature microbiology.. 2019 June 4 (6):956-963. Epub 03/18/2019.

Three New Cs for CRISPR: Collateral, Communicate, Cooperate.

Varble A, Marraffini LA

Trends in genetics : TIG.. 2019 June 35 (6):446-456. Epub 04/27/2019.

Incomplete prophage tolerance by type III-A CRISPR-Cas systems reduces the fitness of lysogenic hosts.

Goldberg GW, McMillan EA, Varble A, Modell JW, Samai P, Jiang W, Marraffini LA

Nature communications.. 2018 January 49 (1):61. Epub 01/04/2018.

Broad Targeting Specificity during Bacterial Type III CRISPR-Cas Immunity Constrains Viral Escape.

Pyenson NC, Gayvert K, Varble A, Elemento O, Marraffini LA

Cell host & microbe.. 2017 September 1322 (3):343-353.e3. Epub 08/17/2017.

The vesicular stomatitis virus matrix protein inhibits NF-?B activation in mouse L929 cells.

Varble AJ, Ried CD, Hammond WJ, Marquis KA, Woodruff MC, Ferran MC

Virology.. 2016 December 499 :99-104. Epub 09/17/2016.

In Vivo RNAi Screening Identifies MDA5 as a Significant Contributor to the Cellular Defense against Influenza A Virus.

Benitez AA, Panis M, Xue J, Varble A, Shim JV, Frick AL, López CB, Sachs D, tenOever BR

Cell reports.. 2015 June 2311 (11):1714-26. Epub 06/11/2015.

Influenza A virus transmission bottlenecks are defined by infection route and recipient host.

Varble A, Albrecht RA, Backes S, Crumiller M, Bouvier NM, Sachs D, García-Sastre A, tenOever BR

Cell host & microbe.. 2014 November 1216 (5):691-700. Epub 10/23/2014.

Stem-loop recognition by DDX17 facilitates miRNA processing and antiviral defense.

Moy RH, Cole BS, Yasunaga A, Gold B, Shankarling G, Varble A, Molleston JM, tenOever BR, Lynch KW, Cherry S

Cell.. 2014 August 14158 (4):764-777. Epub 1900 01 01.

The Mammalian response to virus infection is independent of small RNA silencing.

Backes S, Langlois RA, Schmid S, Varble A, Shim JV, Sachs D, tenOever BR

Cell reports.. 2014 July 108 (1):114-25. Epub 06/19/2014.

An in vivo RNAi screening approach to identify host determinants of virus replication.

Varble A, Benitez AA, Schmid S, Sachs D, Shim JV, Rodriguez-Barrueco R, Panis M, Crumiller M, Silva JM, Sachidanandam R, tenOever BR

Cell host & microbe.. 2013 September 1114 (3):346-56. Epub 1900 01 01.

Hematopoietic-specific targeting of influenza A virus reveals replication requirements for induction of antiviral immune responses.

Langlois RA, Varble A, Chua MA, García-Sastre A, tenOever BR

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2012 July 24109 (30):12117-22. Epub 07/09/2012.

Implications of RNA virus-produced miRNAs.

Varble A, ten Oever BR

RNA biology.. 2011 8 (2):190-4. Epub 03/01/2011.

Noncanonical cytoplasmic processing of viral microRNAs.

Shapiro JS, Varble A, Pham AM, Tenoever BR

RNA.. 2010 November 16 (11):2068-74. Epub 09/14/2010.

Influenza A virus-generated small RNAs regulate the switch from transcription to replication.

Perez JT, Varble A, Sachidanandam R, Zlatev I, Manoharan M, García-Sastre A, tenOever BR

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2010 June 22107 (25):11525-30. Epub 06/01/2010.

Engineered RNA viral synthesis of microRNAs.

Varble A, Chua MA, Perez JT, Manicassamy B, García-Sastre A, tenOever BR

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America.. 2010 June 22107 (25):11519-24. Epub 06/07/2010.

Books

Streptococcus pyogenes: Basic Biology to Clinical Manifestations (2022)

Chapter: The CRISPR-Cas system of Streptococcus pyogenes: function and applications