Viruses are everywhere…

To defend against infection, our immune system needs to “sense” the pathogen, sound the alarm signals, and engage a protective response. We study how our cells detect and respond to viral threats. We integrate cell biology, virology, immunology, biochemistry, and functional genomics approaches to tackle questions such as:

How are viruses recognized during infection?

What cell factors are required for innate immune responses?

And how do our cells “tune” immune responses once they are engaged?

We hope to learn how viruses like HIV evade detection and uncover new ways to harness our body’s natural defense systems.