Kardon Lab
Principal Investigator: Gabrielle Kardon
Institution: University of Utah (Salt Lake City, UT)
Primary Subfield: Genetics/Genomics
Recruitment Status: ✅ Hiring Postdocs
Research Focus
Ross River (RRV) and Chikungunya (CHIKV) viruses are emerging pathogens that target the musculoskeletal system and a major health concern as they cause explosive outbreaks in humans. RRV and CHIKV are mosquito-borne enveloped RNA viruses that cause severe arthralgia, arthritis, myalgia and myopathy that typically resolves within weeks of infection, although a significant fraction of RRV and CHIKV patients develop debilitating chronic disease. While the etiology of virally-induced arthralgia and arthritis has been intensely studied, the mechanisms underlying myalgia and myopathy are poorly understood. Our collaborative research uniquely combines the expertise of a skeletal muscle biology lab (Gabrielle Kardon) and a viral pathogenesis lab (Deborah Lenschow) to determine how RRV and CHIKV affect muscle structure and function to cause myopathy and test if and how infection of myogenic cells drives acute and chronic disease. Using new mouse models of RRV and CHIKV disease, recombinant versions of RRV and CHIKV to track infected cells, and mouse genetic alleles to label and manipulate myogenic cells we will test two hypotheses. First, we will test whether infection and cytopathic destru…
Active NIH Awards
- 5R01AR085598-02: Acute and chronic effects on skeletal muscle from alphavirus infection (2026)
- 5R01HD104317-05: Genetic and Environmental Regulation of Diaphragm Development and Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernias (2025)
- 1R01AR085598-01: Acute and chronic effects on skeletal muscle from alphavirus infection (2025)
- 5R01HD104317-04: Genetic and Environmental Regulation of Diaphragm Development and Congenital Diaphragmatic Hernias (2024)
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