Our laboratory is interested in identifying functional non-coding variants that determine susceptibility to life-threatening viral infections such as HCV, HIV, WNV, ZIKA, and influenza. Identifying novel gene regulatory mechanisms that restrict viruses is critical to developing new therapeutic targets. The gene regulatory mechanisms of interests are miRNAs, long non-coding RNAs, SNPs in the non-coding region, mRNA splicing, and RNA structure. Three areas of current studies are - i) interferon genetics and biology, ii) mRNA splicing induced diversity of interferon activated proteome, & iii) control of immune responses through non-coding RNA. Our laboratory has been at the forefront of genetics and biology of interferons mediating viral restriction.
