Description:

Title: Heterogeneous Outcomes of Epstein-Barr Virus Infection

Speaker: Micah Luftig, PhD, Professor and Vice Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology, Duke University School of Medicine

Topic: 

Epstein-Barr virus is a common virus that latently infects nearly all adults worldwide. While most infections are benign due to control by the adaptive immune response, immune suppressed individuals are at high risk for developing EBV associated B-cell lymphomas. Primary B-cell infection and immortalization by EBV serves as a model for the development of these lymphomas and also the establishment of latency. Our lab has focused on understanding the temporal regulation and host response dictating the success or failure of EBV-driven latency establishment. We have defined the subtle and complex ways that this virus co-opts host cell transcription, metabolism, and survival signaling. Our recent high resolution, single cell based assays have led to an appreciation of the heterogenous outcomes of EBV infection giving rise to new questions about how this heterogeneity influences pathogenesis of diseases ranging from B-cell lymphomas to autoimmune diseases.

Host: Richard Longnecker, PhD, Professor