Protein synthesis is more than the conversion of genetic information into proteins. The translating ribosome sits within a dynamic molecular environment where RNA regulation, protein biogenesis, cellular stress responses, and innate immunity converge.
We investigate how this environment is remodeled during neuroinvasive viral infection and neurodegenerative disease. By combining functional genomics, proteomics, and imaging, we uncover mechanisms that determine how efficiently specific RNAs are translated, how nascent proteins are processed, and how disruption of these processes alters cellular and disease outcome.
Our goal is both to understand these mechanisms and to exploit them--from engineering translational attenuation for safer live virus vaccines to identifying new points of intervention in neurodegenerative disease.
