Student Directory

Hometown: Monroe Township, NJ

Undergraduate Education:  BS/08 Animal Science/Cornell

Research Interest: Studying the role of the innate immune system in the control and survival of poxvirus infection in a mouse model of smallpox 

Advisor: Christopher Norbury
Graduate Program: Microbiology & Immunology

Thesis:

Description:  Upon initial peripheral infection with a virus, a race ensues between the virus, which replicates as quickly as possible, and the immune system that deploys various cells and molecules to restrict systemic spread of the virus. The sensing mechanisms used to detect virus and the early effector mechanisms used to restrict spread of a virus are only just becoming appreciated. Variola virus, the causative agent of smallpox, is an orthopoxvirus that was declared eradicated in the 1970s by the World Health Organization, but is a potential bioterrorism threat due to uncertainty in the location of all virus stocks. Another orthopoxvirus, monkeypoxvirus, was recently found to transmit from animals to humans, resulting in a symptomatic poxvirus infection. Current treatments and vaccinations against both poxviruses are ineffective or cause generalized complications. Consequently, investigating the immune responses against poxviruses is of paramount importance.

To study poxvirus infection in the context of a natural host-pathogen interaction, we inject mice with ectromelia virus (ECTV), a natural mouse pathogen that causes mousepox. Mousepox is characterized by systemic spread of virus from the site of infection. As part of the host's immune response to infection, the cells of the innate immune system respond to ECTV. We are studying the role of these innate immune cells in controlling viral spread and, ultimately in mediating survival of ECTV infection

• 2013
  Myeloid Cells:   Regulation and Inflammation Keystone Conference, Keystone, CO (poster)

Lei F, Haque R, Weiler L, Vrana KE, Song J. (2009) T lineage differentiation from induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Immunol. 260(1):1-5 PMID: 19811778

Zhao B, Song A, Haque R, Lei F, Weiler L, Xiong X, Wu Y, Croft M, Song J. (2009) Cooperation between molecular targets of costimulation in promoting T cell persistence and tumor regression. J Immunol. 182(11):6744-52 PMID: 19454669