Agenda

Our laboratory has pursued a number of projects related the the assembly of human cytomegalovirus, specifically the intracellular trafficking of outer tegument and envelope glycoproteins leading to assembly of the infectious particle. A second major project is understanding the mechanisms of disease following CMV infection of the CNS during early neurodevelopment. Lastly, we have continued our longstanding studies in human populations on the role of CMV immunity and intrauterine transmission of this virus, particularly in populations with a high CMV seroprevalence.

Jennifer Moffat is an Associate Professor and Vice Chair of Microbiology and Immunology at the State University of New York Upstate Medical University, in Syracuse. Her research is focused on humanized mouse models to study the pathogenesis and treatment of herpesviruses, particularly varicella-zoster virus. She is the Editor for DNA Viruses for the journal Antiviral Research.

Denise Whitby is head of the Viral Oncology Section in the AIDS and Cancer Virus Program at the Frederick National Laboratory for Cancer Research in Frederick, Maryland, USA. She obtained her PhD from the University of London, UK. Denise has worked on Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus for over 25 years. Her research has developed robust and reproducible serological and molecular assays enabling the study of KSHV and has been important in describing the epidemiology of KSHV globally. In addition she has contributed to clinical studies and made substantial contributions to the study of KSHV genomics.

Sarah Connolly began studying herpesvirus entry into cells as a graduate student with Gary Cohen and Roselyn Eisenberg at Penn. After a short detour into paramyxovirus entry with Robert Lamb at Northwestern, she returned to herpesvirus entry for postdoctoral studies with Richard Longnecker at Northwestern, confirming for herself that herpes is indeed forever. Upon joining the faculty of DePaul University in Chicago, she continued her studies on herpes simplex virus (HSV) entry into cells, in collaboration with Richard Longnecker and Qing Fan. Her work focuses on the interactions among the HSV entry glycoproteins and the conformational changes in the HSV fusion protein. She trains undergraduate and master's students at DePaul and is the chair of the Department of Health Sciences.

I am Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Roy J. And Lucille A. Carver College of Medicine at the University of Iowa. I received my B.A. Degree from Lawrence University in Biology and Chemistry, and PhD from Harvard University in Molecular and Cellular Biology with Paul Wassarman, studying mouse oocyte gene expression. I was introduced to viruses in joint lab meetings with Mel DePamphilis, who studied SV40, and in a Virology class taught by a very young David Knipe. I learned herpesvirus genetics in my post-doctoral research with Bernard Roizman, and have loved the viruses and genetic approaches ever since. I have spent my faculty career in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Iowa. Most of my research has focused on mechanisms of assembly, egress and spread in HSV-1.

Brent Ryckman is an Associate Professor in the Division of Biological Sciences at the University of Montana. He earned his Ph.D. in 2003 from the University of Iowa for studying the roles of the HSV UL34 protein and US3 kinase in nuclear egress under the mentorship of Richard Roller. As a postdoctoral fellow in the laboratory of David Johnson at Oregon Health & Science University, Brent began to study HCMV and made foundational contributions to our understanding of how the “pentameric complex” gH/gL/UL128-131 influences cell-type tropism. Brent established his laboratory at UM in 2009, where he began to investigate the HCMV “trimeric complex” gH/gL/gO and the significance of gO’s genetic diversity. These studies led to characterizations of several dramatic phenotypic differences among genetically distinct HCMV strains, including glycoprotein expression levels, infectivity and tropism, sensitivity to neutralizing antibodies, and the tendency for spread via cell-free versus cell-to-cell routes. His current interests include understanding how recombination and genome-wide epistasis influence phenotypes, which might help explain the pleomorphic pathogenesis of HCMV infection and contribute to the ability of HCMV to infect seropositive individuals.

Dr. Jennifer Totonchy completed her PhD at Oregon Health and Science University in 2010 studying subversion of host cytokine signaling by cytomegaloviruses under the joint supervision of Dr. Daniel Streblow and Dr. Jay Nelson. She was introduced to KSHV virology during her first post-doctoral fellowship at OHSU with Dr. Ashlee Moses and worked primarily in endothelial cell infection models of Kaposi Sarcoma pathogenesis. Her second postdoctoral fellowship with Dr. Ethel Cesarman at Weill Cornell Medicine expanded her KSHV expertise into the realm of B lymphocyte infection. She is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical and Pharmaceutical Sciences and Associate Dean of Research and Graduate Programs at Chapman University School of Pharmacy in Irvine, California. Jennifer’s laboratory is focused on defining the host and viral factors influencing the early stages of KSHV infection in B lymphocytes using ex vivo infection of human tonsil lymphocytes as a model system.

Dr. Joseph Ziegelbauer received a B.S. from Cornell University. He then joined the laboratory of Dr. Robert Tjian for his graduate research where he received his Ph.D. from the University of California - Berkeley. Later, he began studying KSHV/HHV8 in the laboratory of Dr. Don Ganem at the University of California - San Francisco. Dr. Ziegelbauer joined the National Cancer Institute (NCI) in November 2008 as a tenure-track investigator and was appointed Deputy Branch Chief of the HIV/AIDS Malignancy Branch in NCI in 2023. His laboratory has studied the functions of non-coding RNAs and more recently been using gene expression studies with patient samples to understand pathogenesis and immune evasion.

Dr. Jennifer (Jenn) Corcoran is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology & Infectious Diseases, the Snyder Institute for Chronic Diseases, and the Charbonneau Institute for Cancer Research at the University of Calgary. Jenn completed a PhD in molecular virology on viral membrane fusion and post-doctoral fellowships at the University of Alberta and Dalhousie University, on the herpesviruses HSV-1 and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), respectively. Jenn started her research group in 2014, studying how individual KSHV genes alter primary cell biology and then relocated to the University of Calgary in 2018, continuing work on KSHV-host interactions using recombinant virology and diverse molecular virology approaches. Capitalizing on expertise in recombinant virology and virus-host interactions, since 2020 Jenn’s lab has also studied human coronaviruses including SARS-CoV-2. The Corcoran lab is a lively, productive, and collaborative research group and Jenn is always looking for enthusiastic people who love molecular virology to join the team. Calgary is located in Alberta, Canada, an hour from Banff and the beautiful Rocky Mountains. In 2023, Calgary was ranked 7th as one of the most livable cities in the world.

Lars Dölken studied Medicine at the University of Greifswald and the University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. From 2005-2011, he specialized in microbiology, virology and infection epidemiology at the Max-von-Pettenkofer Institute in Munich. During this time, he established a research focus on RNA biology of herpesvirus infection. In 2011, he moved to the University of Cambridge, UK, as an MRC Clinical Scientist Fellow. In 2015, he was appointed chair of virology at the University of Würzburg. In April 2024, he was appointed chair of virology at the Institute of Virology at Hanover Medical School. His research focuses on virus-host interactions and the RNA biology of herpesvirus infections, particularly HSV-1 and cytomegaloviruses.

Research on herpes simplex virus involving transport of HSV particles in neuronal axons involving kinesin motors. Also research on human cytomegalovirus entry into endothelial and epithelial cells.

Anna Cliffe is an Associate Professor of Microbiology, Immunology and Cancer Biology at the University of Virginia (UVa) in Charlottesville, Virginia. She received her PhD from the University of Edinburgh, under the mentorship of Professors Tony Nash and Bernadette Dutia. Upon completing her PhD, she moved to Dr. David Knipe's laboratory at Harvard Medical School to investigate the chromatin control of HSV-1 lytic replication and latency. She then moved to Dr. Mohanish Deshmukh's laboratory at UNC Chapel Hill, where she established a primary neuronal model of HSV-1 latency to investigate the mechanisms of reactivation. Using multiple model systems including primary neuronal cultures, induced human neurons, and animal models, research in her lab aims to understand the biology of HSV infection of neurons. This includes investigating how the viral genome is epigenetically restricted in latency and remodeled for reactivation, the impact of host immune signaling on HSV latency, and the contribution of HSV infection to the development of neurodegenerative disease.

Jeremy P. Kamil, Ph.D. is an associate professor in the department of microbiology and immunology at LSU Health Shreveport. He has diverse interests in the biology of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) infection. His laboratory identified that the viral ER resident glycoprotein UL148 dramatically reorganizes the endoplasmic reticulum during infection and influences the biogenesis of key virion envelope glycoproteins. Aside from an ongoing focus on HCMV entry and cell tropism, the Kamil laboratory is investigating how the virus rewires host cells to produce complex sialylglycans that decorate virions and how sculpting of the glycome fits within the virus' complex suite of immune evasion strategies.

Vera Tarakanova is a Professor of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical College of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She received her PhD from the Saint Louis University, studying human adenoviruses in William Wold’s group. For the postdoctoral training she had joined Skip Virgin’s group at the Washington University in Saint Louis to continue her studies of cancer-associated viruses, enabled by the highly tractable murine gammaherpesvirus-68 system. In the past 16 years the Tarakanova group had conducted interdisciplinary studies defining host and viral factors that shape the pathogenic gammaherpesvirus-driven germinal center response. The Tarakanova group continues to uncover how classical innate immune factors and host lipid metabolism are usurped by gammaherpesvirus to facilitate lytic replication and chronic infection of an intact natural host.

Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh, M.D., Ph.D. Dr. Sumita Bhaduri-McIntosh is a physician-scientist and Professor of Pediatrics at the University of Florida. Dr. Bhaduri-McIntosh is also a Children’s Miracle Network Scholar, Director of Pediatric Infectious Disease Research, and serves as a graduate faculty in the Department of Molecular Genetics & Microbiology and the Department of Physics. She completed medical training at B.J. Medical College in Pune, India, and a Ph.D. in Molecular and Cell Biology at Hahnemann University (presently Drexel University). Following residency training in Pediatrics, she completed a fellowship in Pediatric Infectious Diseases at Yale University. She trained as a virologist and human cellular immunologist at Yale under the mentorship of Professor I. George Miller. Bridging the fields of Virology, Oncology, and Immunology, research in the Bhaduri laboratory focuses on interactions between the opportunistic cancer-causing Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and its host, the B cell, by investigating three main areas: 1) identifying mechanisms that determine susceptibility of EBV to lytic activation, a process important for herpesvirus persistence, 2) uncovering mechanisms that control the progress of the lytic phase, and 3) investigating how EBV subverts anti-pathogen and anti-cancer barriers to drive B cell proliferation and transformation. Related to the first area, the Bhaduri lab pioneered the tools to separate EBV-infected lytic and refractory cells that led to the identification of STAT3 and the KRAB-ZFP-KAP1/TRIM28 constitutive heterochromatic machinery as key drivers of the EBV refractory state and further, the discovery of the NLRP3 inflammasome as a host switch that disrupts heterochromatic lytic silencing to turn the EBV latent-to-lytic switch ZEBRA on. Related to the second area, Dr. Bhaduri-McIntosh and her team uncovered the molecular basis for the transition from early lytic gene transcription to viral genome replication, a pivotal moment in the strict kinetic order of events during the lytic phase of herpesviruses. In the third area, the Bhaduri lab discovered a novel role for the protooncogene STAT3 in regulation of the DNA Damage Response and DNA repair, with relevance to cancer cell proliferation and synthetic lethal susceptibility of EBV-positive and other cancers with constitutively active STAT3; this area of investigation also resulted in the identification of novel host proteins at DNA replication forks of EBV-cancer cells.

My career revolves around the twin pillars of molecular and computational biology. By combining these diverse disciplines, I have gained unique insights into multiple aspects of host-pathogen interactions. I completed my early studies (BSc in Biological Sciences and MSc in Bioinformatics) at the University of Exeter (UK) before obtaining a PhD in molecular parasitology at the University of York (UK). For my post-doctoral studies, I switched to herpesviruses under the mentorship of Prof. Judy Breuer at UCL (UK). In 2014, I won a three-year MRF New Investigator Award which enabled me to investigate the molecular mechanisms that allow varicella-zoster virus (VZV) and herpes simplex viruses (HSV) to establish, persist in, and reactivate from, latency in sensory ganglia. In 2017, I joined the lab of Prof. Ian Mohr at the NYU School of Medicine (USA) to further my interests in herpesviral latency and how host-virus interactions influence transcription. This included pioneering the use of direct RNA nanopore sequencing (DRS) to profile herpesvirus transcriptomes at high-resolution and to characterize HSV-1 latency in neurons at the single cell level. In 2019, I was promoted to Research Assistant Professor at NYU. Here, my research focused on developing and integrating computational biology approaches with DRS and developing new algorithms for detecting and mapping RNA modifications such as m6A. In 2021, I joined the Hannover Medical School (Germany) as an Associate Professor. Research in my lab focuses on understanding the roles of RNA modifications in shaping virus-host interactions and characterization of the VZV latency transcript.

Dr. Mona Marin has more than 20 years of experience in public health conducting research and leading investigations covering a wide range of viral vaccine preventable diseases including varicella, measles, rubella, mumps, monkeypox, smallpox vaccination, and influenza, with immediate impact on policy decisions for preventing illness and death. She maintains expertise in the epidemiology of viral vaccine-preventable diseases, which includes domestic surveillance, outbreak response and control, vaccine policy, and health communications. Dr. Marin is currently with the Division of Viral Diseases in CDC’s National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, subject matter expert and lead of the US varicella vaccination program. She is the lead author of the ACIP statements on prevention of varicella, on use of the combination measles, mumps, rubella and varicella vaccine, on use of the third dose of mumps-containing vaccine in persons at increased risk for mumps during outbreaks as well as of other vaccine policy documents.

Mette M Rosenkilde is a professor in pharmacology at the University of Copenhagen. She focuses on the therapeutic targeting of G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and a few other membrane proteins within various disease areas. Her studies span from molecular pharmacological analysis characterizing ligand-binding, receptor activation/desensitization phenomenon, and integrated cellular outcomes like migration and differentiation to in vivo animal and human studies. Within virus infections, she has cloned and characterized multiple GPCRs and viroporins (ion channels) integrated into herpesvirus genomes, as well as described the role of the virus-induced endogenous GPR183 (also known as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-induced gene 2, EBI-2) in virus infections. Among the herpesvirus encoded GPCRs, she has worked with the broad-spectrum chemokine receptors US28 (from HCMV) and ORF74 (from HHV8/KSHV) as well as BILF1 (from EBV). All three viral receptors share a high constitutive activity that changes cellular signaling in favor of virus replication and ligand-independent internalization. Moreover, the high signaling of all three receptors drives cellular transformation and leads to oncogenicity in virus-infected cells. For US28, she was part of a group designing fusion-toxin proteins (FTPs) targeting lytic and latently CMV-infected cells, thereby effectively eliminating virus-infected cells and preventing virus reactivation. For the endogenous GPR183, she has described how endogenous oxysterols activate and desensitize this GPCR, how this interplay between activation and desensitization is needed for directional migration, and how synthetic antagonists can be altered to agonists through subtle chemical changes. Moreover, she was part of a group characterizing GPR183's role in RNA-virus-mediated respiratory infections (SARS-CoV-2 and influenza), paving the way for GPR183 antagonists for future antiviral treatment.

Adam is a Professor and Associate Director of the Division of Human Biology at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center. After obtaining his MD from Duke University, Dr. Geballe completed clinical training in Internal Medicine at the University of Chicago and in Infectious Diseases at UCSF. He became fascinated with herpesviruses during his postdoctoral fellowship with Ed Mocarski at Stanford. After moving to Seattle, his research interests initially focused on translational regulation of viral gene expression by short upstream open reading frames, such as the unusual peptide sequence-dependent one present in the HCMV UL4 gene. More recently he has been investigating the evolution and mechanisms of evasion of host defense systems, such as those mediated by protein kinase R and MxB pathways, by herpesviruses.

Mandy Muller is an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She received her Ph.D. from the Pasteur Institute in Paris and completed her postdoctoral training as a Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation scholar at UC Berkeley in the laboratory of Dr. Britt Glaunsinger before joining the faculty at the University of Massachusetts in 2017. Her work seeks to define the complex virus-host interactions by which the gamma herpesvirus Kaposi Sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) takes over the gene expression machinery of its host. The work of her laboratory has defined pathways regulating RNA stability during infection and factors used by the host to counteract viral takeover. Her work is supported by a R35 MIRA award from the NIGMS.

Anna Luganini is an associate professor in the Department of Life Sciences and Systems Biology at the University of Turin, Italy. She obtained a B.Sc in Biology from the University of Turin in 2004, subsequently obtaining a Master's degree in Microbiology and Virology and a PhD in Molecular Medicine from the University of Turin, under the mentorship of Dr. Giorgio Gribaudo. Since the early stages of her career, she has focused her research activity on the analysis of the molecular mechanisms underlying the role of the HCMV US12 genes family in the infection of different cell types relevant for intra- and inter-host viral spread, and in the identification, characterization and validation of new antiviral compounds against DNA and RNA viruses.

Chris Benedict is an Associate Professor and a member of the Center for Vaccine Innovation and Center for Autoimmunity and Inflammation at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. He received his PhD from the University of Southern California, and then did his post-doc with Dr. Carl Ware who discovered various members of the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) superfamily. His work has focused on identifying herpesvirus proteins that target TNF family proteins and signaling pathways in order to dampen host immunity, uncovering important antiviral innate immune defenses and delineating the importance of various epitope-specific T cell responses. His lab has concentrates primarily on human and mouse cytomegalovirus infection.

Dr. Ogembo earned his PhD from Nagoya University, Japan, and received further training as a postdoctoral fellow at Harvard Medical School, Boston. Currently, his laboratory research is concentrated on unraveling the entry mechanisms and infection outcomes of three gamma-herpesviruses: Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), rhesus lymphocriptovirus (rhLCV), and Kaposi sarcoma-associated human herpesvirus (KSHV). The ultimate objective is to develop prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines. Notably, Dr. Ogembo's lab has recently developed and comprehensively characterized EBV prophylactic vaccines. These vaccines are poised for Investigational New Drug (IND) enabling studies to support Phase I clinical trials. Beyond this, his laboratory is actively engaged in global health oncology research. This includes a focus on understanding the epidemiology of human papillomavirus, the prevention of cervical cancer through the screening of high-risk women, and the assessment of the acceptability, feasibility, and optimal delivery strategies for various vaccines. Dr. Ogembo's cutting-edge research is currently supported by multiple federal grants and a City of Hope Integrated Drug Development Venture award, specifically dedicated to the development of a prophylactic vaccine against EBV.

Dr. Megan Orzalli is an Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of Massachusetts Chan Medical School in Worcester, MA. She received her PhD from Harvard University in 2013, where she studied HSV-1-mediated inhibition of nuclear antiviral defense strategies under the mentorship of Dr. David Knipe. Upon completing her PhD, she joined Dr. Jon Kagan’s lab at Boston Children’s Hospital to study the cell biology of innate immunity within human skin. She joined the Division of Infectious Diseases and Immunology at UMass Chan in 2019. Using primary human skin cell cultures and 3D skin organoids, the Orzalli lab aims to understand the initial interactions between HSV-1 and the skin barrier.

Anna Wald, MD, MPH, Professor of Medicine, Epidemiology, and Laboratory Medicine & Pathology at the University of Washington and the Vaccine and Infectious Division, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, and Head of Division of Allergy and Infectious Diseases Division at the University of Washington. Dr. Wald co-directs the University of Washington’s Virology Research Clinic, which is a clinic dedicated to the study of epidemiology, natural history, and therapeutics for viral infections. Her research has focused on genital herpes infections, including infections in pregnant women and immunocompromised hosts. She has been an investigator in many clinical trials for novel antiviral agents, and prophylactic and therapeutic vaccines for HSV infection, as well as vaccines for HPV, CMV, and other viral pathogens. In the last few years, she has participated in multiple trials of therapeutic agents and investigational vaccines for SARS-CoV-2. Dr. Wald has been supported by NIH throughout her career. In addition to grants for scientific investigations, she has received a K24 Mentor Award from NIAID which supported the mentoring of the next generation of physician scientists.

Dr. Weinberg studied Medicine at the University of Sao Paulo, where she graduated first in her class both in Basic and Clinical Sciences. After residency, she completed an ID fellowship at Stanford University under the mentorship of Dr. Thomas Merigan. In 1990, Dr. Weinberg joined the faculty at the University of Colorado Denver School of Medicine to lead the Diagnostic Virology Laboratory of the Pediatric Infectious Diseases Section. She is currently a Tenured Professor of Pediatrics, Medicine and Pathology and Medical Director of the Clinical Molecular and Virology Laboratory at the University of Colorado Hospital. Dr. Weinberg’s research has focused on immune protection against viral infections, including herpesviruses. She studies immune correlates of protection generated by vaccines and infections in immune competent and compromised hosts. Dr. Weinberg is the recipient of multiple federal and industry research grants that have supported her productive scientific career, which resulted in over 250 publications in peer-reviewed journals. Her work addresses both clinical and diagnostic aspects of herpesvirus infections. In recent years, this work focused mostly on correlates of immune protection against infections in immunocompetent and compromised children and adults - including infants, people living with HIV, transplant recipients and older adults. Dr. Weinberg’s research made seminal contributions to our understanding of the effect of age and immune senescence on responses to VZV and of the immunogenicity of both the live attenuated and the adjuvanted recombinant gE zoster vaccines.

Ting-Ting Wu is an Associate Professor-in-residence of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at University of California Los Angeles. She received her B.S. degree from National Taiwan University and earned her PhD from University of Pennsylvania, where she studied hepatitis delta virus and herpes simplex virus-1 with Dr. John Taylor. During her postdoctoral training in the laboratory of Dr. Ren Sun at UCLA, Dr. Wu focused on gammaherpesviruses, particularly MHV68 and KSHV. Together with Dr. Sun, she explored strategies of attenuating vaccine viruses by removing their ability to counteract the type I interferon (IFN-I). After setting up her independent research group at UCLA, Dr. Wu's work has centered on developing vaccine platforms for KSHV while investigating the molecular mechanisms by which the virus evades IFN-I. Since 2020, she has collaborated with Dr. Caius Radu at UCLA and Dr. Norbert Pardi at the University of Pennsylvania to enhance T cell responses elicited by mRNA vaccines. In addition to her research, Dr. Wu is the Director of the Graduate Program in Molecular Pharmacology Home Area at UCLA.

Karen Fowler is a Professor of Pediatrics in the Division of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. Her research has focused on the epidemiology, natural history, and pathogenesis of maternal and congenital cytomegalovirus infections and the role of congenital CMV infection in sensorineural hearing loss in children. She is also interested in evaluating whether social determinants may be contributing to the disparities seen in HCMV infection rates and could identify the subset of HCMV seropositive women who are at increased risk of in utero transmission of the virus. She was the Co-Director of the NIDCD-funded CHIMES Study, which screened and enrolled over 12,000 infants at UAB and 100,000 infants nationally. Her current NIH grant is recruiting young pregnant women in Jefferson County prenatal health clinics into a 12-week cognitive-behavioral intervention to increase knowledge about HCMV, decrease self-reported risk behaviors, and demonstrate reduced primary and nonprimary maternal HCMV infections during pregnancy. Dr. Fowler serves on the scientific advisory committee for the National CMV Foundation and received the National CMV Foundation Professional Impact Award in Fall 2023.

Dr. Charles Wood is Cancer Crusader Professor of the Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology at the Louisiana State Health Sciences Center- New Orleans, and Associate Director of Basic Research at the Stanely Scott Cancer Center. His significant academic and administrative experience includes serving as the director of a research center, as the principal investigator (PI) and Co-PI of several active multi-center and multi-national collaborative projects. He joined LSU-Health from the University of Nebraska, where he held the University Professorship, and was founding director of the Nebraska Center for Virology in 2000, a COBRE supported center that spans the entire University of Nebraska system forming the first research network throughout the state. Dr. Wood leads research collaborations and exchanges between different partners in Africa and the LSUSHC. Dr. Wood began his research on HIV/AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa more than 29 years ago in Zambia. These research programs have been expanded to Tanzania with support from the National Institute of Health. He currently directs an active NIH-funded research team studying HIV and Kaposi sarcoma, and KS associated human herpesvirus. He is deeply committed to the training and development of the next generation of undergraduate and graduate students, and researchers. He also served as Director of two NIH Fogarty International Training and Research Programs, with a focus on HIV research and training of the next generation of graduate students and post-graduate researchers in Zambia, and more recently in Tanzania.

IHW 2024 in Portland is a trip home for John Purdy. He is an Oregonian at heart, particularly during the beautiful summer months. His undergraduate degree is from Pacific University in Forest Grove on the western edge of the Portland Metro area. After completing a PhD at Penn State College of Medicine in Hershey PA, John moved to Princeton University to do postdoctoral research in metabolism with Dr. Joshua Rabinowitz. While at Princeton he wandered into Dr. Thomas Shenk’s laboratory and emerged several years later as a herpesvirologist. While he grew up harvesting marionberries and chasing cattle on a farm an hour south of Portland, he now spends his time harvesting human cytomegalovirus stocks and chasing after novel ideas related to virus-host metabolism interactions. His research investigates how viruses hijack host metabolism to support their replication and how the host uses metabolism to limit viruses. John is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Immunobiology and the BIO5 Institute at the University of Arizona. He is an editorial board member for the Journal of Virology, a founding member of the ASV DEI Committee, co-author of a chapter in Fields Virology with Dr. James Alwine, presented as State-of-the-Art lecture at ASV 2022 conference, and has performed ad hoc service on several NIH Study Sections.

For his undergraduate education, Dr. Malouli enrolled in a biochemistry program jointly offered by the Leibniz University of Hannover, the University of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo) and the Hannover Medical School (MHH) in Hannover, Germany. After rotating in different virology laboratories in Germany, Ireland and the USA, he joined the group of Prof. Dr. Martin Messerle at the Hannover Medical School (MHH) for his master's degree to work on a CD8+ T-cell immune evasion mechanism of the murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV). Subsequently, he moved to Portland, Oregon to perform his graduate work on the molecular characterization of the rhesus cytomegalovirus (RhCMV) and the development of attenuation strategies for CMV based vaccine vectors at the OHSU Vaccine and Gene Therapy institute under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Klaus Früh. After receiving his Ph.D. from the Leibniz University of Hannover, Dr. Malouli joined the laboratory of Prof. Dr. Louis Picker at the VGTI as a staff scientist to study how RhCMV modulates the host CD8+ T-cell response and to optimize the design of CMV based vaccine vectors for pre-clinical and clinical studies. In 2018, he was promoted to research assistant professor and invited to start his own research group as part of the VGTI faculty. His laboratory has focused on modelling HCMV infection biology and pathology in relevant NHP models using model specific NHP-CMV species to further our understanding of CMV in vivo behavior and to establish a model system that can be used to interrogate novel vaccine and interventions approaches.

Dr. Richard Whitley is a Distinguished Professor of Pediatrics, Vice Chairman for Research in the Department of Pediatrics and Co-Division Director of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Medicine. He also holds the titles of Loeb Eminent Scholar Chair in Pediatrics; Professor of Microbiology, Medicine, & Neurosurgery; Senior Scientist, Department of Gene Therapy; Co-Founder, Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance, and Associate Director, Drug Discovery and Development, Comprehensive Cancer Center. An expert on how antiviral therapies fight infections in children and adults, Dr. Whitley’s research spans four decades, during which he has published 401 scholarly articles on pediatric infectious disease. In 2019, Dr. Whitley was appointed by Dr. Anthony Fauci to chair the NIH-NIAID COVID-19 Data Safety and Monitoring Board. Today, he continues to serve as a member of the Steering Committee for the NIH Long COVID-RECOVER initiative. After attaining his medical degree from George Washington University School of Medicine in 1971, Dr. Whitley completed his pediatric internship/residency and fellowship in infectious disease and virology at UAB from 1971 to 1976. Dr. Whitley’s honors are numerous and his professional organization involvement extensive, including NIAID AIDS Task Force membership; NIAID DSMB Clinical Trials Committee (Chairman); Associate Editor, Journal of Infectious Diseases (2005-Present); President, International Society for Antiviral Research (1988-1990); AAP Award for Excellence in Pediatric Research (1991); Elion Award, International Society for Antiviral Research (2004); Chair, BSC, CCID, CDC (2005-2010), UAB President’s Medal (2007), NIH National Adv Allergy and Infectious Disease Council (2008-2012), and President, Infectious Diseases Society of America (2009). In 2013, he was named as the inaugural recipient of the Distinguished Clinical Research Scholar and Educator in Residence at the NIH Clinical Center. He has received numerous other awards and lectureships, including the 2016 UAB SOM Dean’s Excellence Award in Research for Senior Faculty, the Department of Pediatrics Lifetime Achievement Award in Pediatric Healthcare in 2016, and Honorary Fellowship of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, Irish Academy of Medicine in 2018. Dr. Whitley received the Alexander Fleming Award for Lifetime Achievement from the Infectious Diseases Society at their annual meeting in 2018. He received the 2020 National Foundation for Infectious Diseases John P. Utz Leadership Award for his work in the field of clinical virology in December 2020, and in 2022, he received the John Howland Award from the American Pediatric Society.