Let’s Meet the Virologists: Recent Episodes
Larissa Thackray
Meet the people behind today’s virology headlines. People just like you working to understand viruses and how they affect you. Host: Larissa Thackray, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Infectious Diseases
We talk with Chinonye Dim, a graduate student at Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA, who characterizes more accessible animal models to develop new vaccines and therapeutics against flaviviruses.
We talk with Hatoon Baazim, a postdoctoral researcher at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Boston, MA, who studies the role of systemic and cellular metabolism in virus infection.
We talk with with Charlotte Nyblade, a DVM/PhD student at the Virginia Maryland College of Veterinary Medicine, Blacksburg, VA, who used gnotobiotic pig models to study vaccine-mediated immunity and protection against enteric viruses.
We talk with Stephanie Goya , a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Washington, Seattle, WA, who uses genomic approaches to understand and predict the evolution of respiratory viruses such as RSV.
We talk with Roberto Alers-Velazquez, a postdoc at the Geisel School of Medicine at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH, who studies how subclinical herpes simplex virus infections can impair memory and behavior.
We talk with Abdullahi Jamiu, a graduate student at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, VA, who studies how encephalitic alphaviruses modulate cellular transcription and antiviral responses to discover novel therapeutic targets.
We talk with David James, a Naturopathic Medicine student at Sonoran University in Tempe, AZ, who investigates the antiviral efficacy of botanical compounds.
We talk with Katherine Calderon Mayo, a graduate student at the National University of San Marcos in Peru, who develops virus vectored vaccines against avian diseases.
We talk with Karen Pomeyie, a master's student at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana, who studies HIV.
We talk with Gifty Mawuli Sarpong, a principal research assistant at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana, who studies influenza virus epidemiology and surveillance.
We talk with Dr. Cybele Garcia, virology group leader and professor at the University of Buenos Aires in Argentina., who studies molecular mechanisms that can serve as novel therapeutic targets for arboviruses.
We talk with Rakesh Rahangdale, a graduate student at Manipal Academy of Higher Education, India, who studies novel protein biotherapeutics for neurotropic viruses such as herpes simplex virus.
We talk with Dr. Tatiana Murillo Corrales, a virologist from the University of Costa Rica, who studies the epidemiology and emergence of arboviruses such as Dengue and Zika viruses in Costa Rica.
We talk with Dr. Tosin Afowowe, a Senior Veterinary Officer and Virologist at the Nigeria Center for Disease Control and Prevention, who performs genomic surveillance and antiviral drug development for arenaviruses such as lassavirus.
We talk with Shreya Banerjee, a research fellow in the Division of Virology at ICMR-National Institute of Cholera and Enteric Diseases in India, who studies rotavirus-host interactions to develop new antiviral therapies.
We talk with May Wang, a graduate student in the Rasmussen lab at North Carolina State University, who studies the fitness dynamics of plant viruses.
We talk with Dr. Pedro Jiménez, an Assistant Professor in the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, who's lab focuses the ecology of avian influenza in Chile and South America.
We talk with Tyshawn Ferrell, a graduate student in the Neufeldt and Piantadosi labs at Emory University, who studies how previous exposure alters dengue virus evolution.
We talk with Jono Abshier, a graduate student in the Stedman lab at Portland State University, who studies viruses that infect archaea that live in volcanic hotsprings.
We talk with Dr. Rohit Jangra, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University Health Shreveport, who's lab focuses on identifying novel host receptors for hantaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Paul Rivarez, a postdoctoral researcher in the Rasmussen lab at North Carolina State University, who uses genomic epidemiology to define risks that determine the spread of plant viruses.
We talk with Oluwatola Femi-Olatunji, a master's student in the Hilliard lab at Georgia State University, who is studying the mechanism of action of novel antiviral compound against Zika virus.
We talk with Andres Rivera Ruiz, a graduate student in the Wobus lab at the University of Michigan Medical School, who uses intestinal organoids to study astroviruses.
We talk with Dr. Christine Marizzi, Director of Community Science in Harlem, who works with BioBus and New York City Virus Hunters to facilitate K-12 and college students to discover, explore, and pursue science.
We talk with Dr. Danielle Campbell, a postdoctoral scholar in the Baldridge lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, who uses RNA viruses to understand RNA biology.
We talk with Dr. Inna Ricardo Lax, a postdoctoral scholar in the Rice lab at The Rockefeller University, who uses RNA viruses to understand RNA biology.
We talk with Isabella Asamoah, a research assistant at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research in Ghana, who is determining the efficacy of COVID-19 vaccines in Ghana.
We talk with Dr. Dustin Glasner, a postdoctoral scholar in the Daugherty lab at University of California San Diego, who studies the interactions between viruses and the innate immune system.
We talk with Austin Robertson, a graduate student in the LeBeau lab at University of Wisconsin - Madison, who uses phage display libraries of shark antibodies to develop new antiviral therapeutics.
We talk with Dr. Laura St Clair, a postdoctoral scholar in the Klein lab at John Hopkins University, who studies how the intersection between metabolism, biological sex, and immunology drive differences in the host response to vaccination and virus infection.
We talk with Dillon McBride, a graduate student in the Bowmen lab at the Ohio State University, and Dr. Leonardo Caserta, a postdoctoral associate in the Diel lab at Cornell University, about their work on white-tailed deer as a reservoir for emerging and historical strains of SARS-CoV-2.
.
We talk with Dr. Marc Johnson, Professor of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Missouri School of Medicine, and Mitchell (Mitch) Ramuta, a graduate student in the O'Connor laboratory at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, about the potential applications of their work using wastewater and air surveillance for SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses.
We talk with Dr. Vishwanatha (Vishi) Reddy, a senior postdoctoral fellow in the Broadbent lab at the Pirbright Institute, who studies immunosuppressive avian viruses.
We talk with Madison Gray, a first-year graduate student at the University of Texas Medical Branch, who is using bioinformatics and AI to discover new therapeutics for pathogenic viruses.
We talk with William Rodriguez, a graduate student in the Muller lab at the University of Massachusetts - Amherst, who studies host transcripts that escape RNA decay mediated by herpes virus infection.
We talk with Patrick Creisher, a graduate student in the Klein lab at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who studies the outcome of respiratory virus infection during pregnancy.
We talk with Dr. Abdullah Algaissi, an assistant professor of virology at the Medical Research Center at Jazan University, who studies emerging coronaviruses such as MERS and SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. Tamanash Battacharya, a postdoctoral fellow in the Malik lab at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, who studies the viral evolution of arboviruses.
We talk with Frank Charlton, a graduate student in the Barr lab at University of Leeds, who studies the biochemical cues need for Bunyavirus entry.
We talk with Dr. Izabela Rezende, a postdoctoral researcher in the LaBeaud lab at Stanford University School of Medicine, who studies risk factors associated with severe outcome following yellow fever virus infection.
We talk with Dr. Maggie Bartlett, a a postdoctoral fellow in the Griffin lab at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, who is studying immune control of viruses and viral persistence.
We talk with Debarpan Dhar, a graduate student in the Miller lab at Iowa State University, who studies packaging and replication of mammalian orthoreoviruses.
We talk with Dr. Marlonni Maurastoni, a postdoctoral researcher in the Whitfield lab at North Carolina State University, who is working to understand transmission of plant viruses.
We talk with Hannah Murphy, a graduate student in the Liang and Ly lab at the University of Minnesota College of Veterinary Medicine, who studies arenaviruses and SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. Joaquín Caceres, an Assistant Research Scientist at University of Georgia, who designs more effective live attenuated influenza vaccines.
We talk with Dr. Aurelien Chuard, a postdoctoral researcher in the Altindis lab at Boston College, who studies insulin-like peptides encoded by large double-stranded DNA viruses in the Iridoviridae family.
We talk with Dr. Joanna Sztuba-Solinska, an assistant professor at Auburn University, who is studying structure, function, and regulation of viral RNAs.
We talk with Dr. John Dzimianski, a postdoctoral associate in the Dubois lab at the University of California Santa Cruz, who uses structural biology to study epitopes on the hemagglutinin glycoprotein of diverse influenza viruses in order to predict vaccine efficacy.
We talk with Alberto Lopez-Munoz, a a postdoctoral fellow in the Yewdell lab at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, who studies immunomodulation by SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid protein.
We talk with Amy Davis, a graduate student in the Schultz-Cherry lab at St Jude Children's Research Hospital, who studies astrovirus infection of the central nervous system.
We talk with Grant Butschek, a graduate student in the Pekosz lab at Johns Hopkins University, who is studying how temperature differences in the upper and lower respiratory tract alter virus infection.
We talk with Hannah Wallace, a graduate student in the Russell lab at Memorial University in St John's, who is investigating how Hepatitis C virus induces pyroptosis.
We talk with Jonathan Joyce, a graduate student in the Bertke lab at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, who is investigating how SARS-CoV-2 infects the nervous system.
We talk with Dr. Ashish Srivastava, a faculty member at Amity Institute of Virology and Immunology in India, who uses CRISPR-Cas detection and nanopore sequencing technologies to identify and characterize known and novel viruses that affect plant crops.
We talk with Aaron Embry, a graduate student in the Gammon and Alto labs at University of Texas Southwest Medical Center, who studies bacterial effector proteins that overcome barriers to arbovirus infection.
We talk with Sriram Kumar, a graduate student in the Ludwig/Brunotte lab at the Institute of Virology, who investigates the virus specific therapeutic potential of different IFN alpha subtypes for influenza virus and SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Arman Azad, a medical student in the Simon lab at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, who studied immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection and vaccination in patients with HIV.
We talk with Isabel Lewis, a graduate student in the Beard lab at The Pirbright Institute, who studies virulence factors of Lumpy skin disease virus, a newly emerged poxvirus of cattle.
We talk with Robert Lopez-Astacio, a graduate student in the Parrish lab at Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine, who uses canine parvovirus to study how antibody escape and receptor binding drive virus evolution and emergence of new virus variants.
We talk with Eva Ogire, a graduate student in PIMIT at the University of the Reunion on La Reunion Island and CIRI at the University of Lyon, France, who studies the role of the non-structural protein 1 (NS1) in the pathology of epidemic strains of Dengue virus.
We talk with Nora Herzog, a graduate student in the Holt and Mohr/Wilson Labs at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who studies how infection with Herpes simplex virus 1 alters the biophysical properties of the nucleus.
.
We talk with Taylor Engdahl, a graduate student in the Crowe lab at Vanderbilt University, who studies the human antibody response to emerging viruses.
We talk with Dipanwita (Dipa) Mitra, a graduate student in the Tandon lab at the the University of Mississippi Medical Center, who studies the role of glycosaminoglycans in SARS-CoV-2 and cytomegalovirus entry, as well as peptide-based therapeutics for human cytomegalovirus infection.
We talk with Dr. Lisa Bauer, a postdoctoral researcher in the Van Riel lab at the Erasmus University Medical Center, who uses pluripotent stem cells differentiated into neurons and astrocytes to study how Influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2 affect the brain.
We talk with Judith Reyes Ballista, a graduate student in the Brindley lab at the University of Georgia, who studies the role of phosphatidylserine in the budding of Vesicular stomatitis virus.
We talk with Dr. Baldeep Khare, a postdoctoral research associate in the Kuhn lab at Purdue University, who uses cryo-electron microscopy to study an emerging flavivirus called Usutu virus.
We talk with Haley Caldwell, a graduate student in the Ciota lab at the Wadsworth Center and the University of Albany, who studies how viral swarms or quasi-species impact the inter- and intra-host fitness of West Nile virus.
We talk with Dr. Adithya Sridhar, a senior scientist in the Wolthers and Pajkrt labs at Amsterdam University Medical Center, who uses gut, airway and brain organoids to study picornaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Caroline Martin, a postdoctoral research fellow in the Kielian lab at Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who studies virus-host interactions that mediate alphavirus assembly and egress.
We talk with Ellen Suder, a graduate student in the Muhlberger lab at Boston University School of Medicine, who studies the virus-specific roles of Marburg and Ebola virus proteins in replication and transcription, and helped perform an antiviral drug testing for SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Nandita Kedia, a graduate student in the Mondal lab at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, who studies host factors that modulate influenza B virus and helped develop a rapid point-of-care SARS-CoV-2 diagnostic test called COVIRAP.
We talk with Simon Boudreault, a graduate student in the Bisaillon and Lemay labs at the Université de Sherbrooke, who studies reoviruses.
We talk with Clayton (Clay) Wollner, a graduate student in the Richner lab at the University of Ilinois College of Medicine at Chicago, who studies dengue virus.
We talk with Ana Vazquez-Pagan, a graduate student in the Schultz-Cherry lab at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, who studies influenza virus.
We talk with Dr. Kristen Engevik, a postdoctoral associate in the Hyser lab at Baylor College of Medicine, who studies rotaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Ketaki Ganti, an Associate Research Scientist in the Lowen lab at Emory University School of Medicine, who studies influenza viruses.
We talk with Zoe Lyski, a graduate student in the Messer lab at Oregon Health and Sciences University, who studies dengue and chikungunya viruses, as well as SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Tarun Martheswaran, an incoming undergraduate student at Stanford University, who studied dengue virus.
We talk with Dr. Elizabeth (Lizzy) Draganova, a postdoctoral scholar in the Heldwein lab at Tufts University School of Medicine, who studies herpes viruses.
We talk with Kathleen (Kathy) Glover, a graduate student in the Coombs lab at the University of Manitoba, who studies Zika virus.
We talk with Amit Koikkarah Aji, a graduate student in the Chiantia lab at the University of Potsdam, who studies hantaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Ling Qing Xu, a postdoctoral associate in the McElroy lab at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, who studies SARS-CoV-2 and Rift Valley fever virus.
We talk with Jarin Mourosi, a graduate student in the Rao lab at The Catholic University of America, who studies bacteriophage T4.
We talk with Dr. Marli Vlok, a postdoctoral fellow in the Jan and Overall labs at the University of British Columbia, who studies picornaviruses and coronaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Laura Murray-Nerger, a postdoctoral fellow in the Gewurz lab at Harvard Medical School, who studies Epstein-Barr virus.
We talk with Caroline Plescia, a graduate student in the Stahelin lab at Purdue University, who studies Ebola and SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Michael Schwoerer, a graduate student in the Ploss lab at Princeton University, who studies flaviviruses.
We talk with Andrew (Drew) Marten, a masters student in the Conway lab at Central Michigan University, who studies dengue virus.
We talk with Brittany Stewart, a graduate student in the Orchard lab at UT Southwestern Medical Center, who studies norovirus.
We talk with Dr. Faten Okda, a postdoctoral fellow in the Webby lab at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, who studies influenza virus.
We talk with Dr. Dilip Kumar, a postdoctoral research associate in the Prasad lab at Baylor School of Medicine, who studies rotavirus.
We talk with Ana Tognasoli, a graduate student in the Adamson lab at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro, who studies Epstein-Barr virus.
We talk with Zeinab Elmasri, a graduate student in the Jose lab at The Pennsylvania State University, who studies alphaviruses as well as flaviviruses and coronaviruses.
We talk with Carlos Brito, a graduate student in the Kuhn lab at Purdue University, who studies flaviviruses, alphaviruses and coronaviruses.
We talk with Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, FASN, an assistant professor and clinical epidemiologist, about his work examining the substantial and systemic disease associated with 'long COVID'.
We talk with Dr. Sonam Verma, a postdoctoral researcher, about her work examining the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on the placenta and the potential for increased risk for adverse pregnancy outcomes with COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Ali Ellebedy, an associate professor of Pathology and Immunology, about work in his lab to examine immune responses in draining lymph nodes of the arm pit following vaccination with mRNA-based SARS-CoV-2 vaccines using human volunteer-derived samples obtained through ultrasound-guided fine needle aspiration.
We talk with Dr. Sebastien Felt, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work to identify virus and host factors that regulate the generation of defective viral genomes (DVGs) of respiratory syncytial virus, a virus that causes significant respiratory disease in children.
We talk with Dr. Jeannie Kelly, an assistant professor, about her work examining the COVID-19 infection rate of pregnant women in Labor and Delivery, the high risk of pregnancy for severe COVID-19 disease, and the benefit of COVID-19 vaccination for both mothers and babies in utero and after birth.
We talk with Dr. Matthew Kelly, an Assistant Professor, about his work examining the role of the respiratory microbiome in the susceptibility of kids to COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Hinissan Pascaline Kohio, a postdoctoral research associate in the Ding lab at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis about her work studying rotavirus, an enteric pathogen in young children.
We talk with Dr. Adam Bailey, a clinical pathology fellow, and Sasha Dmytrenko, an MSTP student, about their work investigating extra-pulmonary effects of COVID-19, specifically on the heart.
We talk with Dr. Sharmila Nair, a staff scientist, about her work investigating how Zika virus might be used to target a fatal human cancer, Glioblastoma multiforme.
We talk with Dr. Tristan Jordan, a postdoctoral scholar, about his work using a CRISPR screen and proteomics of the viral replication complex to identity potential drug targets for SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. Rachel Presti, an associate professor, about her work with clinical trials to examine how well different drugs, therapies, and vaccines work to prevent and treat COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Brett Case, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work identifying and characterizing numerous monoclonal antibodies against SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. Sigrid Gouma, a postdoctoral researcher, who has been examining antibody responses during SARS-CoV-2 infection to determine the impact of COVID-19 on specific populations such as pregnant women and to prevent transmission from those with asymptomatic infection.
We talk with Dr. Ben Israelow, an infectious diseases fellow, about his work using small animal models and human patient samples to determine why some patients recover from COVID-19 while others do not.
We talk with Dr. Laura VanBlargen, a staff scientist, about her work to develop and characterize new monoclonal antibody-based therapies for SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. David Martinez, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work evaluating therapies and vaccines against SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Traci Bricker, a research laboratory supervisor, about her work with a hamster model of SARS-CoV-2 to find novel therapeutics to prevent and treat COVID-19.
We talk with Christian Shema Mugisha, a graduate student, about his work developing a rapid, cost-effective way to assay SARS-CoV-2 to further COVID-19 research.
We talk with Dr. Sarah Leist, a postdoctoral researcher, about her work generating a mouse-adapted SARS-CoV-2 which will be vital to understand host determinants of SARS-CoV-2 infection and pathogenesis.
We talk with Dr. Yi-Chieh (EJ) Perng, a postdoctoral scholar, about his research to discover new antiviral drugs for SARS-CoV-2 and his outreach efforts discussing how to protect yourself and your community during the COVID-19 pandemic by wearing a mask.
We talk with Dr. Seth Zost, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work to identify monoclonal antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 which are currently in clinical trials evaluating their ability to prevent or treat COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Zhuoming Liu, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work using chimeric VSV to identify potential therapeutics monoclonal antibodies and drugs that prevent SARS-CoV-2 infection.
We talk with Dr. Ahmed Hassan, a postdoctoral researcher, about his work developing a SARS-CoV-2 vaccine to prevent COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Shibali Das, a postdoctoral researcher, about her studies to identify specific immune cells associated with protection and severity of COVID-19 disease.
We talk with Dr. Anne Mayer Bridwell, an instructor, about her work developing cell-based screens to discover new antiviral drugs for SARS-CoV-2.
We talk with Dr. Sebla Kutluay about work in her lab to understand how SARS-CoV-2 interacts with its human host.
We talk with Emma Winkler, a student training to be a medical scientist, who has characterized several models of SARS-CoV-2 infection to better understand why some people get really sick with COVID-19.
We talk with Dr. Susan Weiss who has studied coronavirus replication and pathogenesis for over forty years and hopes that this knowledge will lead to new therapies for SARS-CoV-2 and other emerging coronaviruses.
We talk with one of the pioneers of the coronavirus research field, Dr. Kathryn 'Kay' Holmes, who keeps up with the rapidly moving research on SARS-CoV-2 as a hobby and uses her knowledge of coronaviruses to help keep her community safe.