B.A., Biology-Chemistry, 2006, Manchester College
Research: Defective interfering particles (DIP) of equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV) are capable of mediating a state of persistent infection.  The DIP genome is comprised of an origin of replication, a cleavage/packaging sequence, and only three genes: UL3, UL4, and a unique gene that is a hybrid of portions of regulatory genes IR4 and UL5.  The goals of this project are to assess the functions of the UL3 and UL4 genes in EHV cytocidal infection and to ascertain if over-expression of UL3 and/or UL4 in the context of the DIP genome contributes to the interference of infectious virus production mediated by DIP.