Viral Targeting of Importin Alpha-Mediated Nuclear Import to Block Innate Immunity

Jade K. Forwood holds a BBiomedSc. (Hons I) from James Cook University and a PhD from the John Curtin School of Medical Research, Australian National University. Throughout his career, he has received numerous prestigious awards, including the University Medal, the Frank Fenner Medal, the NHMRC CJ Martin Fellowship, an ARC Future Fellowship, and the FAOBMB Young Scientist Award. His extensive training includes honors in Dengue virus research at JCU, a PhD in gene therapy at ANU, and postdoctoral research in industry at the Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge UK, and the Institute for Molecular Bioscience at the University of Queensland. As a chief investigator, he has successfully secured over 30 grants totaling more than $40 million, contributing significantly to various research projects. He has received seven NHMRC grants, including the NHMRC Ideas Grant for Understanding novel viral host interactions that modulate innate immunity. His research endeavors have also received support from NIH and ARC. His independent research laboratory at CSU focuses on antiviral, vaccine, and drug design, furthering his contributions to the field of virology and epidemiology.

Daisy W. Leung is an Associate Professor in the Departments of Medicine, Pathology and Immunology, and Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics at Washington University School of Medicine. She obtained her B.A. in Biology from Amherst College and her Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from UT Southwestern. Her Lab is focused on developing a mechanistic understanding of host-pathogen interactions that contribute to viral pathogenesis through immune evasion. The overarching goal of her research program is to define molecular mechanisms at the host-pathogen interface.

Gaya K. Amarasinghe is a professor at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from the City College of New York in 1997. From 1994 to 1996, he also worked as a Research Assistant in the laboratory of Professor David Cowburn at Rockefeller University in New York. He conducted his thesis studies with HHMI Investigator Dr. Michael Summers at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County where he characterized the structural basis for HIV-1 genome packaging by nuclear magnetic resonance-based methods. From 2001-2007, he conducted his postdoctoral research at the University of Texas, Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas, to study signaling and structural dynamics in the multidomain Vav proto-oncoprotein under a fellowship from the Cancer Research Institute. He began his independent research program in 2007 in the Biochemistry, Biophysics, and Molecular Biology Department at Iowa State University. At Iowa State University, he also served as the faculty advisor to the BBMB undergraduate club and the Stupka Symposium. In the fall of 2011, he moved to the Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis, where he is currently a Professor of Pathology and Immunology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, and Molecular Microbiology.

Christopher F. Basler is professor in the Department of Microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Basler obtained his Ph.D. from Albert Einstein College of Medicine in 1995. He became a professor of microbiology at Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City in 2013. He was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology in 2014. His major research interests are immune evasion and replication mechanisms of filoviruses and other emerging RNA viruses. Notable achievements include the identification and characterization of the Ebola virus and Marburg virus interferon antagonist proteins.