Damon Runyon Researchers

In addition to acute illness, viruses can cause cancers. While our understanding of cellular immunity against viruses that have DNA-based genomes is robust, we know less about how cells protect themselves against RNA-based viruses such as hepatitis C, a leading cause of liver cancer. Because many cellular defenses against viruses are known to be shared between mammals and bacteria, Dr. Mendoza [HHMI Fellow] is looking for new cellular defenses against RNA viruses in bacteria and will investigate how these defenses work. The resulting discovery of anti-viral defenses will broaden our understanding of how cells protect themselves against RNA viruses, which will improve our capacity to support patients' immune systems when infected with cancer-causing RNA viruses. Dr. Mendoza received their PhD from the University of California, San Francisco, and their BS from the University of Miami.