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Elodie Ghedin, PhD Principal Investigator Professor of Biology and Global Public Health Director, Center for Genomics and Systems Biology Dr. Ghedin is a member of the Center for Genomics and Systems Biology, and the College of Global Public Health. She has a broad interest in infectious diseases and in using genomics tools to explore host-pathogen interactions in filarial worms (River Blindness and Lymphatic Filariasis) and in influenza infections, microbial and viral population structures in infected hosts, and the association of lung diseases with the microbial diversity (bacterial, viral, fungal) found in the respiratory tract. She is a MacArthur Fellow (2011), a Kavli Frontier of Science Fellow (2012), and an American Academy of Microbiology Fellow (2017). |
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Lauren Lashua Laboratory Manager & FluDyNeMo Project Manager In addition to her principal duties as project manager of the FluDyNeMo Systems Biology program, collaborating between and coordinating with six data-generating sites across the US and Canada, Lauren also pursues her interest in how nutrition influences the gut microbiome. |
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Tsui-Wen (Tracy) Chou, MS Research Scientist Tracy is currently focusing on RNA expression in Influenza and Zika virus infected cells. She is also interested in the impact of defective interfering particles (DIP) on competent viruses. |
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Stephanie Banakis Master’s Student Stephanie’s research is focused on the evolution of the Influenza virus, especially in regards to the NA surface protein. She is also interested in creating models of transmission. |
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Alexandra Grote PhD Student, Biology www.alexgrote.com Alexandra uses genomics, transcriptomics, and metabolomics to characterize filarial parasites to elucidate the basis of adaptation of macroparasites to their human hosts. She is currently using dual RNA-seq to characterize the endosymbiotic interactions between the filarial parasites and the bacteria Wolbachia. She is also analyzing the newly sequenced genomes of Brugia malayi (a causative agent of lymphatic filariasis) and Onchocerca volvulus (the causative agent of river blindness), focusing on the chromosome evolution in this group of filarial nematodes. |
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Kristen Gulino PhD Student, Biology Kristen’s current research focus is on viral interactions in respiratory infections. |
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Kate Johnson PhD Student, Biology Kate uses next-generation sequencing to characterize the diversity of influenza viral variants within influenza infections, and how these viral variants impact the population dynamics, transmission, and evolution of influenza virus. |
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Joseph Koussa PhD Student, Biology Joe currently works on investigating the host-parasite interface from the immune perspective. The work aims at characterizing the potential immune functions of proteins secreted or excreted by our filarial nematode model Brugia malayi. Joe uses computational and molecular techniques to select, recombinantly express and assay the immune effects of individual proteins on human immune cells. His research also aims at characterizing post-translational modifications, and more precisely glycosylation profiles, in B. malayi to identify stage or sex-specific overrepresented epitopes with immune effects. |
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Chang Wang PhD Student, Biology Chang’s current research explores at the single cell level dynamic interactions between the influenza virus and its host. Her focus is on how defective viral genomes contribute to the heterogeneity of the cellular response and how that impacts infection outcome. |
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Lingdi Zhang PhD Student |
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Nikita Reddy Undergraduate Student, Biology Nikita researches the metabolic relationship between the filarial worm Brugia malayi and its obligate symbiont, Wolbachia. By analyzing the RNA expression patterns of these organisms through development, she seeks to characterize their interdependence. |
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