RESEARCH
Building Safe Experimental Models of Emerging Viruses
Many of the world's most medically important emerging viruses, including Heartland virus, require Biosafety Level 3 (BSL-3) containment, placing them beyond the reach of most undergraduate institutions. Our research seeks to overcome this barrier by engineering safe, genetically tractable viral models that faithfully reproduce key aspects of virus biology while remaining suitable for study under standard BSL-2 laboratory conditions. These systems enable students to investigate viral replication, host-pathogen interactions, and antiviral strategies using authentic research approaches without the specialized infrastructure required for work with infectious BSL-3 pathogens. Our proposed work on Heartland virus aims to create a powerful new model that will advance our understanding of this emerging tick-borne pathogen while providing undergraduates with opportunities to contribute meaningfully to cutting-edge virology research.
Identification of Novel Therapeutics Against Emerging Viral Infections
Emerging viral diseases continue to pose significant threats to global health, yet effective treatments remain unavailable for many pathogens. Our laboratory uses computational drug discovery approaches, including structural biology, virtual high-throughput screening, molecular docking, and drug-likeness prediction, to identify promising antiviral compounds targeting essential viral proteins. By combining freely available computational resources with experimental validation, we are able to conduct impactful, hypothesis-driven research in a cost-effective and accessible manner. This approach allows undergraduate researchers to participate in every stage of the drug discovery pipeline while contributing to the search for new therapeutics against emerging viral diseases.