To establish infection, viruses must attach and fuse to their target cell. We identify and visualize how viruses bind and infect their hosts. Our goal is to use these mechanistic insights to block viral entry to treat or prevent viral infections.

To sense and defend against infections and cancer, the host adaptive immune system scans for antigens presented on the surfaces of diseased cells. We develop methods to track individual steps during antigen processing. Our goal is to harness these pathways to promote the presentation of specific antigens for vaccine design and immunotherapy.

To persist in the host, pathogens and cancer have developed diverse strategies to escape immune detection. We are particularly interested in how viruses and tumor cells inhibit or downregulate components of the antigen presentation machinery to evade immune surveillance. By studying these processes, we aim not only to uncover mechanisms of viral pathogenesis, but also to gain fundamental insights into the host cellular pathways they exploit.

We leverage insights from immune evasion strategies to identify vulnerabilities in membrane protein quality control that can be targeted for immune modulation. Our goal is to identify new therapeutic opportunities to activate or deactivate the immune system in the context of infection, cancer, and autoimmune diseases.