MISSION

Leverage the interplay between viral elements and the enteric environment to better human health.

We examine how the endogenous virome of the intestine influences exogenous viral infection.

All animal genomes have numerous remnants of diverse viral sequences in their genome. These sequences alter host physiology and immunity, fundamentally changing the outcome of viral infections.

We examine how exogenous viruses evade the antiviral strategies of the intestine to maintain infection competence.

The intestinal barrier is a multicellular tissue that secretes diverse factors to restrict viral infection; however, because viruses can still infect this tissue, they can clearly evade these defense mechanisms. We use molecular virology and mucosal immunology to study these viral evasion proteins to discover these mechanisms.

We examine how viral evasion in the intestine of animal reservoirs poises spillover into new hosts.

Many zoonotic viruses exist as enteric viruses in their reservoir hosts while infecting other tissues in humans. We study how viruses evolve in these animal intestinal reservoirs and how these adaptations might make a virus more or less likely to be able to infect a human.

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