Margo Brinton

BA in Zoology, Duke University 1966
Ph.D. in Microbiology and Virology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia 1972

Virology, Molecular Genetics, biochemistry, Cell biology

My laboratory works on orthoflaviviruses and arteriviruses. The current focuses of my orthoflavivirus research are: (1) molecular characterization of the mechanisms by which the alleles of a mouse gene confer resistance/susceptibility to orthoflavivirus-induced neurological disease, (2) functional characterization of the interactions between identified cellular proteins and the viral genome and antigenome 3′ terminal RNA structures, (3) analysis of the cellular innate immune and stress responses induced and counteracted by orthoflavivirus infections, (4) comparison of neuoinvasive and non-neuroinvasive orthoflavivirus infections in 2D primary neural cell cultures and 3D brain organoids differentiated from human iPSCs, (5) structural and functional characterization of G quadruplex structures in orthoflavivirus genome RNAs and (6) development of mRNA-based and small molecule anti-orthoflavivirus therapies. Viruses being studied include the mosquito-borne viruses, West Nile virus, dengue viruses, ZIKV, and yellow fever virus and the tick-borne virus, Powassan virus.
We also work on the molecular mechanisms and host-virus interactions of the arterivirus, simian hemorrhagic fever virus (SHFV). SHFV causes asymptomatic infections in species of African monkeys but macaques develop a severe, rapid onset hemorrhagic disease after infection that is usually fatal. The current focuses on my SHFV research are: (1) analysis of the functions of individual viral non-structural proteins, (2) identification of cellular proteins interacting with individual viral proteins, including viral microproteins, and (3) analysis of the functional consequences of these viral-cellular interactions.
Lab Location: 638/640 Petit Science Center (PSC