Discovering the molecular mechanisms of cell-to-cell fusion following viral infection

Cell-to-cell fusion is a vital biological process occurring naturally across various tissues which is often hijacked by viruses such as influenza, HIV, and SARS-CoV-2 to facilitate their spread within hosts. Despite this, the host cell machinery/mechanisms that modulate cell fusion are not well understood. This project aims to fill this knowledge gap. We will achieve this through the development of a novel high-throughput platform to study cell-to-cell fusion. This platform will permit an unbiased, genome-scale identification of key molecular regulators of cell-to-cell fusion post-viral infection, a venture that will reveal new therapeutic targets to inhibit viral spread. This interdisciplinary project merges expertise from the Nixon-Abell and Knowles labs in molecular biology, CRISPR engineering, microfluidics, and nanofabrication and promises to advance our fundamental understanding of cell fusion and foster the future development of innovative therapeutic strategies. The student will work through cell line establishment, microfluidic platform optimization, and CRISPRi screening, towards validating potential modulators of virally induced cell fusion.