News

Jana Cable, PhD, is a 2025 alum of the PhD program in molecular genetics and microbiology. Her research interests lie in understanding how viral proteins evade cellular defenses to infection and regulate the host environment. What inspired you to pursue science as a career? Was there a specific person or experience that sent you down this… Continue Reading Three Questions with: Jana Cable

Alter Geller Distinguished Professor in Immunology Micah Luftig, PhD, is a professor and vice chair in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Microbiology. He also has appointments in the Departments of Medicine, Integrative Immunobiology, and Cell Biology. His research focuses on viruses that cause cancer, with an overarching goal of defining the basic molecular mechanisms… Continue Reading Meet the School of Medicine’s 2025 Distinguished Professors 

This review chronicles the history of infection and MS culminating with the evidence for EBV as an essential trigger and possible mechanisms. Congrats to Elliott on this significant effort, which is a must read for anyone entering the field. https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/mmbr.00119-23  

Congratulations to Dr. Katie Willard, who successfully defended her thesis titled Viral and Host Factors Drive Spontaneous Reactivation of Type 1 Epstein Barr Virus. Katie has worked hard and we’re excited to see what she does next on her scientific journey! Awesome work Dr. Willard!

Congrats to Katie on her paper, Viral and host factors drive a type 1 Epstein-Barr virus spontaneous lytic phenotype, getting accepted with ASM’s mBio! Her paper focuses on EBV-associated endemic Burkitt Lymphoma cells that spontaneously enter the lytic state as opposed to remaining latent, and explores the mechanisms of why this occurs. Check out the… Continue Reading Katie’s Paper was Accepted!

Some of our lab members attended the International Herpesvirus Workshop in Montana, where they had the opportunity to hear great talks about current research on EBV and other herpesviruses like CMV, HSV, and KSHV. They also had a chance to explore Missoula, MT and took some great pictures. They even got to rock out to… Continue Reading Lab Folks at the International Herpesvirus Workshop

Congratulations to Lyla on her newly accepted paper to AACR’s Molecular Cancer Research entitled CBF-Beta Mitigates PI3K-Alpha–Specific Inhibitor Killing through PIM1 in PIK3CA-Mutant Gastric Cancer. This is great research highlighting the mechanisms of resistance to small molecule inhibitors in EBV-associated gastric cancer. Check out the paper here.

The Luftigres took an afternoon to explore the Duke Lemur Center, where we learned about the lemurs housed there and how such a unique operation is run to the highest standard. And, of course, we got some great pics of the lemurs themselves!  

Congratulations to Dr. Lyla Stanland, who successfully defended her thesis titled EBV-Associated Gastric Cancer: From Initial Infection to Unique Therapeutic Approaches. Lyla will be doing exciting new work as the Associate Director of Oligo Therapeutics with EnFuego Therapeutics. Way to go Dr. Stanland!  

A few Luftigres traveled to Keystone, CO for the B Cell Biology in the Context of Infectious Diseases, Autoimmunity and B Cell Cancers Symposium. In addition to hearing great talks, they were able to explore beautiful Keystone, play a round of golf, and present some posters!