We’re happy to welcome Michael Schwoerer as our newest Ph.D. student in our lab! Michael will be expanding on his work from his rotation project on understanding molecular determinants of host tropism in flaviviruses. We’re excited to see all of the exciting work you will be doing in the upcoming years! Welcome to the Ploss lab, Michael!

Warm welcome to our newest postdoc, Aaron Lin!

More accurately, we should say “welcome back,” since Princeton University is Aaron’s alma mater! After completing his bachelor’s degree at Princeton (and doing research on protein-protein interactions of HSV-1), Aaron completed his Ph.D. in Virology at Harvard University in the lab of Pardis Sabeti, where he studied the evolution and host-virus interactions of Ebola virus using genomic tools.

Now that he’s back at Princeton, Aaron will do a joint postdoc, splitting his time between the Ploss lab and the Adamson lab.

Says Aaron, “I’m generally interested in how viruses and hosts co-exist and co-evolve and how this shapes molecular mechanisms and disease outcomes over time. I’m very excited to think more about host range and cross-species transmission in the Ploss Lab!”

And we’re very excited to have you join us, Aaron!

This summer, we welcome our newest MolBio rotation student, Michael Schwoerer!

Michael graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 2019 with a BA in Biology, a concentration in Mechanisms of Disease, and a minor in Biophysics. His previous experience includes research into viral egress of Lassa, Ebola and Marburg viruses as well as small molecule inhibitors of HIV budding. Now that he’s in the Ploss lab, Michael is excited to learn more about factors that modify tissue and host tropism for positive sense, single stranded viruses.

Says Michael, “I’ve always been interested in RNA viruses! Apart from their sociological/historical importance, they are among the most incredible entities in biology. With only a handful of genes, they routinely hijack and conquer organisms of infinitely greater complexity.”

During his rotation, Michael hopes to combine virology with biochemistry, biophysics and mathematical modeling. Welcome to the lab, Michael!

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the Ploss Lab has teamed up with the MacMillan Group to identify cellular host factors that facilitate viral entry of SARS-CoV-2. This collaboration was highlighted by a Princeton University press release, found here. The article quotes Alex as saying:

Viruses are highly dependent on a multitude of host factors to go through their infection cycles, and SARS-CoV-2 is no exception. Many of these cellular factors are not yet defined for SARS-CoV-2. Any one of such host factors could represent a target for therapeutic intervention. We aim to define precisely which molecules SARS-CoV-2 interacts with during viral uptake and during viral replication.

Since SARS-CoV-2 can only be handled under very strict biosafety conditions, two Ploss Lab postdocs, Tomokazu Tamura and Saori Suzuki, have been preparing a SARS-CoV-2 pseudoparticle, which retains a similar molecular composition as the normal virus but is non-infectious. Combining this pseudoparticle with the MacMillan group’s µMap technology, the project aims to investigate how SARS-CoV-2 might attach to, enter, and act within cells.

Outside of this collaboration, the Ploss Lab has received funding from Princeton University for several other projects related to COVID-19. Among them are efforts to screen FDA-approved compounds against SARS-CoV-2, explore a potential vaccine strategy, and develop a strain of mice permissive to infection by SARS-CoV-2 that could serve as a model for future preclinical drug testing.

Saori Suzuki (left) and Tomokazu Tamura (right) prepare SARS-CoV-2 pseudoparticles, as highlighted in the Princeton University press release.