Cara Pager
University at Albany, NY·Microbiology & Immunology
Mosquito-borne flaviviruses store their genetic information as a single strand of RNA, and that RNA looks deceptively similar to the messenger RNA of our own cells. Because these viruses rely on host machinery to copy themselves and make their proteins, the exact sequences and folded shapes within the viral RNA decide how well an infection proceeds.
- Fields
Microbiology & Immunology
Biology
Biochemistry
- Topics
Zika virus
Ilheus virus
flavivirus
- Grants
- 2 known grants, through Jan 2028
What they work on
- Mutate conserved adenosine-rich patches in the Zika virus 3' untranslated region within an infectious clone and a luciferase reporter replicon, then measure effects on protein production, genome replication and viral fitness in mammalian and mosquito cells.
- Test whether poly(A) binding protein 1, a host protein that normally binds messenger RNA tails, supports Zika virus gene expression, and determine whether it and other cellular RNA-binding proteins attach to these adenosine-rich regions.
- Characterize Ilheus virus infection over time across mammalian, bird and mosquito cell lines plus primary skin and monocyte cultures, tracking innate immune activation and expression of selected interferon-stimulated genes.
- Build the first Ilheus virus infectious clone and a subgenomic nanoluciferase reporter replicon, and use them to define the complementary end sequences that let the RNA genome circularize for replication.
More about the research
Two projects take that idea in different directions: one dissects specific sequence features in the Zika virus genome and the host proteins they grab, the other builds the basic tools needed to study Ilheus virus, a little-known relative with the potential to spread. Both compare what happens in mammalian cells with what happens in mosquito cells, since each virus must thrive in two very different hosts.
Why it matters
No licensed antiviral drug or vaccine exists for Zika virus, and climate change and travel are pushing mosquitoes and the viruses they carry into new regions. Learning which viral RNA sequences direct infection could point toward a weakened Zika strain suitable for a vaccine, while contrasting the host proteins used in human versus mosquito cells could inform mosquito-control strategies. Establishing the first genetic tools for Ilheus virus would give researchers a way to study a virus that may emerge.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Rachel Niederer
University of Michigan, MI·Biochemistry·Early-career
Directly measure ribosome recruitment on thousands of 5′-UTR sequences, the leader regions of mRNAs, that are used differently in cancer cells, to identify functional RNA elements.
Steven Baker
Loyola University Chicago, IL·Microbiology & Immunology
Determine whether the drop in the influenza NP protein, a core viral genome-packaging protein, caused by non-canonical ISG15 (ncISG15) reflects faster protein turnover, RNA turnover, or both.
Anny Zhou
University of Virginia, VA·Microbiology & Immunology
Dissect the molecular mechanism by which GSDMB, an asthma-linked gene on chromosome 17q21, promotes interferon signaling and the expression of interferon-stimulated genes in human airway epithelial cells treated with RNA viruses or the viral RNA mimic poly(I:C).
The school
University at Albany: 15 labs on PI Pages, $472M a year on research, 144 research doctorates a year.
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