Anna Cliffe, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Cancer Biology, was awarded a $2.7 million R01 grant from the National Institutes of Health for a project titled “The role of ATRX in both promoting the establishment of HSV latency and restricting reactivation.”
The Cliffe lab studies mechanisms of Herpes Simplex Virus (HSV) latent infection and reactivation in neurons. More than 60% of the U.S. population is infected with the virus, which can cause a range of disease outcomes, including oral and genital lesions, keratitis, and encephalitis, and potentially contribute to the development of Alzheimer’s disease. The virus persists for life as a latent infection of neurons and can periodically reactivate in response to a variety of stimuli to cause disease. LEARN MORE