I graduated from Trinity College in 2006 with a BS in biology and joined the CMB program in the fall of 2007. I decided to join the lab of Markus Thali to study the assembly and transmission process of HIV-1, with emphasis on host factors that can both negatively and positively influence viral replication. HIV-1 (like all viruses) relies heavily on host proteins and machinery to successfully replicate, therefore by identifying and understanding these interactions we can gain insight into basic cellular processes.

In the Thali lab, we use a variety of cellular and virological techniques in our studies. I have focused on using fluorescence imaging to investigate the specialized membrane domains formed by the HIV-1 Gag protein. In line with this, we now have access (here at the UVM microscopy imaging center) to a microscope setup capable of super-resolution imaging. I have begun to extend our studies to this non-diffraction limited imaging technique.