Virus Egress Pathways

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Coronavirus Egress Research- lysosomal release of viruses: We have identified the novel egress pathway exploited by coronaviruses. We have found that these viruses use lysosomes to be transported out of the cell. In the process of using lysosomes these viruses disrupt lysosomal function. We have found that this leads to profound defects in cell physiology including antigen presentation and may lead to the observed clinical abnormalities. Other positive strand virus egress research: We have an entirely novel mode of viral transmission, whereby viruses are transmitted en masse or en bloc , inside extracellular vesicles. We are studying the impact of this form of transmission on the host innate and adaptive immune response. We also discovered a novel mode of transmission and a novel site of replication for enteric viruses including norovirus, rotavirus, astrovirus and others. We have found that these viruses replicate robustly in the salivary glands and transmit to others via saliva. This finding is novel and has significant public health implications. The manuscript detailing this discovery is under review.