Amanda Chase
achase@uci.edu
While in the lab: My graduate work focuses on elucidating the role cellular protein PCBP2 plays in mediating a switch in template usage from translation to viral RNA replication. Additional work aims to determine viral proteins and protein-protein or protein-RNA interactions required for efficient rhinovirus RNA replication.
Current Position: After leaving the Semler lab, I transitioned to studying HIV viral protein mediated alterations on host cell anterograde transport in the laboratory of Dr. Oliver Fackler at the University of Heidelberg, Germany.
Andrea Cathcart
ALCathcart@gmail.com
While in the lab: My graduate work focused on both the dynamics of polyprotein processing during poliovirus infection as well as the interplay between host cell mRNA decay factors and viral proteins.
Curent position: After leaving Semleria, Andrea moved to the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) where she is investigating influenza pathogenesis, including both viral and host factors.
Richard Virgen-Slane
rvirgenslane@ucsd.edu
While in the lab: Richard’s research identified picornavirus VPg unlinkase as DNA repair enzyme TDP2.
Current position: Richard is currently a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute. In his spare time he entertains the cutest baby in existence, Rosalie Virgen-Slane.
Kerry Fitzgerald
fitzgerk@uci.edu
While in the lab: My research in the lab focuses on elucidating the mechanistic requirements for picornavirus IRES-dependent translation, with emphasis on specific host factors and their roles in bridging the cellular translation machinery to the viral RNA. My work utilizes genetic and biochemical assays as well as fluorescence confocal microscopy to further define the virus-specific complex that is initiation-competent for this alternative form of translation.
Janet Rozovics
While in the lab: My graduate and postdoctoral work focused on exploring the significance of interacting host (PCBP1/2, unlinkase, mRNA decay factors) and picornaviral (3AB, 3B, 3CD) proteins.
Current Position: As a Health Science Associate in Medical Affairs at Allergan, I utilize available data from medical journals, textbooks, and abstracts to strategically develop scientific and medical communications in a coherent, unbiased and scientific manner for dissemination. I also serve as a scientific liaison for Medical Affairs, supporting educational training needs and reviewing advertising and promotional materials for medical accuracy and scientific balance.
Kenneth J. Ertel
While in the lab: Researched the interaction of cellular protein hnRNP C with PV negative-strand RNA terminii and the implications for viral RNA replication.
Current Position: To determine the viral RNA replication determinants required for the formation of Flock house virus replication compartments and the analysis of the ultrastructural characteristics of these compartments in the mitochondria of infected Drosophila cells; at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Postdoc in the lab of Paul Ahlquist.
Melody Li
mli@rockefeller.edu
While in the lab: As an undergraduate researcher/technician in the Semler lab, I worked with Janet Rozovics to identify and characterize “unlinkase”, an unknown host enzyme that has the unique role of cleaving the RNA-protein bond that is found at the 5ʼ terminus of picornavirus genomes.
Current position: I’m a postdoctoral associate working under the guidance of Peggy MacDonald in Charlie Rice’s lab at The Rockefeller University, studying host innate immune responses against alpha viruses.
Rushika Perera
perera@purdue.edu
While in the Lab: I was a Post-Doctoral Fellow in the Semler Lab from 2002-2005. I worked on poly r(C)-binding protein (PCBP2) and the impact of this host protein on controlling template selection for translation versus replication of poliovirus RNA. This work was a continuation of Brandon Walter’s work on PCBP2. We demonstrated that this host protein was cleaved by poliovirus 3C/3CD protease to facilitate the switch between the processes of viral RNA translation and replication. This work for the first time highlighted virus control of a phenomenon that is common to many different RNA viruses.
Current position: My current research focuses on using a systems biology approach to studying flavivirus-host interactions. I focus on dengue virus (DENV) and investigate the role of lipid biosynthesis in virus-induced membrane rearrangements in the infected cell. Similar to other positive strand RNA viruses, DENV cause significant membrane rearrangements within infected cells, including the formation of new membranous structures. These rearrangements involve enhanced lipid biosynthesis, induced by the expression of virus gene products. Enveloped viruses in general also exploit host-derived lipid membranes to facilitate release from infected cells by budding, and entering cells through an efficient process termed membrane fusion. The lipidomic analyses have identified several key lipid pathways that are perturbed by DENV infection including lipids that influence membrane curvature and permeability. My current efforts are aimed at identifying the function of these lipid-mediators and signaling events during DENV infection. Since DENV replicates within the mosquito, I have expanded these studies to also include the vector. My long-term goal is to extend this work to include tick-borne flaviviruses for a comparative analysis with mosquito-borne flaviviruses. These studies will include utilizing systems biology, molecular virology, and structural biology to study host requirements of mosquito-and tick-borne viruses in both the human host and arthropod vector background. Research Scientist. Markey Center for Structural Biology, Dept. of Biological Sciences, Hockmeyer Hall, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN 47907
Kristin Bedard
While in the lab: My graduate work in the Semler lab focused on host cell proteins required for picornavirus translation. My thesis research identified a novel host cell protein that was essential for poliovirus IRES-mediated translation, SRp20. SRp20 was shown to facilitate viral specific translation through a direct interaction with the host cell protein PCBP2 known to be involved in IRES-mediated translation.
Current position: After the Semler lab, I completed a postdoctoral research fellowship at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center studying human papillomaviruses and cancer. I then moved on to Kineta, Inc. in Seattle WA to work as the scientific lead and program manager for antiviral and vaccine adjuvant programs. At Kineta, I manage a team of research associates and scientists, develop drug screening and antiviral validation assays and have filed 6 provisional U.S. patents on chemical structures and methods of antiviral drug discovery. We have identified five unique classes of small molecules that elicit broad spectrum antiviral activity through up-regulation of host innate immune pathways. These molecules have potent activity against RNA viruses such as Hepatitis C virus, Dengue virus, RSV and Influenza viruses. The program has been awarded three NIH grants and maintains a strong collaboration with University of Washington.
Gwendolyn Jang
While in the lab: During my graduate studies, I investigated the 5′ and 3′ noncoding regions from the Kv1.4 mRNA through structure-function analyses.
Current position: I am currently in a systems biology lab at UC San Francisco working on proteome-wide analyses of pathogen-host and human protein-protein interactions.
Lily T. Hoang, Psy.D.
lilyh279@yahoo.com
While in the lab: I was a lab assistant in the Semler lab, and also did undergraduate research, assisting Gwendolyn Jang with her graduate research on voltage-gated potassium channel mRNA.
Current position: Currently working as a post-doctorate in Clinical Psychology and getting ready to take my board licensing exams.
Jo Ellen Brunner
jbrunner@uci.edu
While in the lab: My work in the Semler laboratory focused on elucidating the functional role of nuclear RNA-binding proteins, hnRNP C1 and C2, in poliovirus positive-strand RNA synthesis. At mid-to-late time points in poliovirus-infected cells, hnRNP C proteins are significantly re-localized from the nucleus to the cytoplasm, where they interact with poliovirus RNA and replication proteins, hypothetically to increase the efficiency of viral genomic RNA synthesis.
Current position: As an Associate Faculty member in Biology at Irvine Valley College, I teach and develop the General Microbiology lecture and laboratory course (Bio 15). At UCI, I am the administrator for the Center for Virus Research and the California Center for Antiviral Drug Discovery. The overall goal of the Center for Virus Research (CVR) is to develop interdisciplinary collaborations and studies founded in molecular virology at UCI. The California Center for Antiviral Drug Discovery (CCADD) is an organization of University of California scientists from the Irvine, Los Angeles, and San Francisco campuses. The goal of this multi-campus research unit is to utilize leading edge basic research to identify novel drug targets against a wide variety of RNA viruses.
David Brown
dmbrown@uci.edu
While in the lab: As a graduate student in the laboratory of Professor Bert Semler, I investigated the role of the poliovirus 3´ noncoding region (NCR) in viral genomic replication in HeLa and SK-N-SH (neuroblastoma) cell lines.
Current position: I have spent the past six+ years (2005 – present) drawing from my training in business (BS – ASU) and the biological sciences (BS, Ph.D. – UC Irvine) working as a Project Manager to advance the development of genetics-based, effective, and safe field practices for preventing the transmission of dengue virus. Project Manager, 2230 McGaugh Hall University of California Irvine, CA 92697-3900; Office: 949-824-9334; Fax: 949-824-2814
Christopher Cornell
While in the lab: I worked on the 3D polymerase and the 3CD precursor peptide and assessed the subdomains within 3D responsible for modulating both the RNA binding and protein processing properties of the 3C proteinase.
Current position: I left Bert’s lab to do my postdoc at The Scripps Research Institute focusing on determining the molecular mechanisms of immune evasion strategies employed by coxsackievirus b3. In 2007 I began working at Allergan as a Scientist supporting their biologics process development efforts for BOTOX(R) and related neurotoxin based molecules. In 2010, I moved away from the bench and joined the Medical Affairs group at Allergan, spending time working in Medical Information, Phase IV clinical research, and strategic publication planning. I now work at GlaxoSmithKline in Research Triangle Park, NC as a Publications Manager, where I collaborate with clinical teams and study investigators to develop data dissemination plans and scientific publications in the areas of immuno-inflammation, neurosciences, and rare diseases.
Stacey (Stewart) Clarken
Contact via LinkedIn
While in the lab: As a graduate student in Bert’s lab, my research focus was to gain a better understanding of the genetic determinants (sequence as well as higher-order structures) for neurotropism in the poliovirus 5’ non-coding region.
Current position: I am the VP of Commercial Operations for Applied Microarrays, located in Tempe, AZ. We are a contract manufacturer of protein and DNA microarrays for diagnostic companies world-wide.
Lawrence Blyn
While in the lab: I was a postdoctoral fellow in Bert’s lab. My position was a shared one with Ellie Ehrenfeld’s lab at the time. I was a postdoc in both labs working on the same project. The project, and my research interest, was to identify and characterize Human host cell proteins that were potentially involved in Polio Translation. Specifically, I was looking for proteins that bound to the Stem Loop IV region. This led to the discovery of the PCBP 1 and 2 protein involvement in both translation and replication.
Current position: I am involved in the research, development and commercialization of broad identification assays designed to detect and characterize bacteria, fungi and viruses involved in human disease. This work was originally started when I was with Isis Pharmaceuticals and now continues with Abbott Laboratories following our acquisition several years ago.
Steve Todd
While in the lab: My thesis work focused on the molecular genetic analysis of the human rhinovirus genomic RNA 3′ noncoding region
Current position: Working as a patent attorney with DuPont Industrial Bioscience
Aurelia Haller
ahaller@inviragen.com
While in the lab: My Ph.D. thesis consisted of the analysis of cis and trans-acting determinants of the IRES element of poliovirus.
Current position: For the last 15 years I have worked on the development of various vaccines at biotech companies. Currently I am working for a small vaccine development company in Colorado called Inviragen hoping to bring a live attenuated dengue vaccine to market. My position at Inviragen is Director of Vaccine Development and Regulatory Affairs.
Wade Blair
BlairW@medimmune.com
While in the lab: I characterized protease/substrate interactions required for proteolytic processing of the poliovirus capsid, including the amino acid sequence determinants required for substrate recognition.
Current postion: After leaving the Semler lab, I worked in the HIV field as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Duke University. I then moved into the biopharmaceutical industry and have been involved in the discovery and development of therapeutics in the antiviral and immunology disease areas at Bristol-Myers Squibb, Pfizer and Genentech. I am currently the Director of Virology at MedImmune.
Mary Frances Ypma-Wong
While in the lab: Working as a graduate student with Bert, we studied poliovirus polyprotein processing. We created an in vitro system in which we could create changes within the polyprotien and evaluate proteolytic processing.
Current position: My postdoctoral work at UC Irvine focused on translation factors of Pneumnocystis carnii. Since, 1995, I have taught a variety of undergraduate courses at community colleges in Orange County and at UC Irvine. Current position: Educational Technology Facilitator for UC Irvine School of Medicine where I facilitate the integration of iPads into the curriculum, determine the quality of digital texts and educational apps, create content for iMedEd websites, and help provide both students and faculty with the best tools to increase learning and communication. I also teachthe laboratory portion of the Medical Microbiology course for the second year medical students.
Cristina Giachetti
cristina.giachetti@gen-probe.com
www.gen-probe.com
While in the lab: I have the honor and great distinction to be Bert’s first post-doc. I studied the role of the hydrophobic domain of 3AB in poliovirus replication.
Current position: I am Vice President of Research and Development at Gen-Probe, a molecular diagnostics company in San Diego. I joined Gen-Probe in 1995 to lead the technical team that developed the first blood-screening test for multiplex detection of HIV-1 and HCV RNAs. My work in this area expanded to include screening assays for HBV, WNV, HAV, HIV-2, ParvoB19, Dengue, and it directly contributed to the National Medal for Technology that Gen-Probe received in 2006. For the last few years, in addition to blood screening, I have been working in diagnostic products for detection and monitoring of other infectious diseases and cancer. In addition to R&D, I supervise the Clinical, Scientific and Medical Affairs areas of the company.
Vickie Johnson Costigan
agntcarl@aol.com
While in the lab: I was lucky enough to be hired by Bert as an RA when I was fresh out of college and he was a new professor at UCI. In addition to helping him set up his first lab (in the basement!), I learned all the basics from him—cell culture, recombinant DNA construction, and how to make a properly strong cup of coffee. Our work at the time involved the study of proteolytic processing of poliovirus, and the role of the 5’ non-coding region of viral RNA in polio-coxsackie chimera.
Current position: After a stint at Amgen, where my work focused primarily on ligand-receptor interactions, I retired from science to raise our two sons, who are now 18 and 15. I haven’t ruled out the possibility of picking up a pipet again one of these days, but whether I do or not, I will always be grateful to Bert for getting me started, and for being a wonderful mentor and friend.
Ilya Belalov
ibelalov@uci.eduMy main project as a post-doc in the lab is devoted to poliovirus translation initiation. It has been shown that host protein SRp20 acts as a bridge between the IRES and the 40S ribosome subunit. However, it is not known if SRp20 directly binds ribosomes or if still another protein is part of this complex; I am working on this question.
Nicolas Leveque
nleveque@uci.edu
Visiting professor from France (Reims Champagne-Ardenne University), my work is focused on Coxsackievirus B persistent cardiac infection: how these viruses can persist in the heart long after the acute infection and what are the consequences of this persistence on the cardiac myocyte’s structure and functions? Southern California and Bert’s lab are probably not the worst place to work on this fascinating question!
Sonia Maciejewski
smacieje@uci.edu
My graduate work focuses on defining the role of the cellular enzyme, 5′ tyrosyl-DNA phosphodiesterase 2, during picornavirus infections.
Dylan Flather
dflather@uci.edu
Dylan received his bachelor’s degree in Chemical and Biological Engineering from the University of Colorado, Boulder and is currently a graduate student within the Cellular and Molecular Biosciences program at UC Irvine. Within the Semler lab Dylan has investigated the preferential substrate of poliovirus proteinase 3CD and now is focused on generating tagged poliovirus RNA to assay for associated host proteins via RNA affinity purification. In his free time he likes to go on long hikes with his dog, Cassius.
Eric Baggs
ebaggs@uci.edu
My focus is on cellular and viral translation mechanisms for mRNAs harboring an internal ribosome entry site (IRES). I am currently investigating the requirements (both canonical and non canonical) for translation initiation on the Voltage-gated potassium-channel (Kv1.4) IRES as well as the Lymphoid enhancer-binding factor 1 (LEF1) IRES.
Autumn Holmes
Michelle Vu