Grant: Master's Award: Canada Graduate Scholarships

The herpesviruses are a very large family of viruses that infect and cause disease in diverse animals ranging from oysters to elephants. There are eight different human herpesviruses that cause a variety of diseases that range from trivial to life threatening. Importantly, herpesviruses cause lifelong infections: once someone is infected there is no cure. The herpesvirus family has been subdivided into three groups based on the biological properties and nature of the diseases caused by different viruses. My proposal focuses on the alpha-herpesvirus group that includes the human pathogens herpes simplex virus types 1 and 2 and varicella-zoster virus. Infections with these viruses are highly prevalent in Canadians, with upward of 30% of adults infected with herpes simplex virus type 1. The alpha-herpesviruses are referred to as "neurotropic" viruses because they infect and cause disease in the nervous system of their hosts. An important goal of herpesvirus researchers is to understand the molecular mechanisms by which alpha-herpesviruses invade and spread in the nervous system and how they cause neurological disease. By identifying and understanding the mechanics of critical virus-host cell interactions we hope to develop ways to disrupt these interactions and thereby create new methodologies for the treatment of herpesvirus disease. My project aims to learn more about how virus infection spreads between cells. Cell-to-cell spread of virus infection is key to the establishment of infection in the host as well as to the transmission of infection between hosts. Work described in this application seeks to define the mechanism by which virus components interact with the cell to promote virus spread and to explore the significance of this spread to herpesvirus disease.