Walsh Lab
Principal Investigator: Derek Walsh
Institution: Northwestern University (Chicago, IL)
Primary Subfield: Immunology
Recruitment Status: Inquire for rotation/fellowship opportunities
Research Focus
PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT Although smallpox was formally declared to have been eradicated in 1980, molluscum contagiosum is widespread and a variety of zoonotic poxviruses continually infect and adapt to humans. This is exemplified by monkeypox/Mpox virus, which causes outbreaks in humans with increasing frequency and resulted in a global outbreak and declaration of a new WHO poxvirus emergency in 2022. Yet several other poxviridae family members are used as vaccine vectors and oncolytics. Beyond their direct medical significance, studies of poxviruses have a long history of providing new insights into fundamental aspects of cell biology and immunology, due in part to their unusual replication cycle and complex immune evasion strategies. Other than the singular, related African Swine Fever Virus, poxviruses are the only mammalian DNA viruses that replicate entirely in the cytoplasm. To do this, poxviruses encode their own fully functional DNA replication, transcription and mRNA biogenesis machinery, forming large cytoplasmic replication sites called “viral factories”. Despite this, poxviruses remain dependent upon their host cell’s mRNA translation machinery and metabolic pathways t…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AI179744-03: The role of mTOR dysregulation in poxvirus infection (2026)
- 5R01AI141470-08: Nuclear rotation and cellular reorganization during Cytomegalovirus infection (2026)
- 5R01AI127456-10: Poxvirus manipulation of the host cell protein synthesis machinery (2026)
- 5R01AI127456-09: Poxvirus manipulation of the host cell protein synthesis machinery (2025)
- 5R01AI179744-02: The role of mTOR dysregulation in poxvirus infection (2025)
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