Dr. Cathy Miller in the Department of Veterinary Microbiology & Preventive Medicine has received the following grant: 

Title: Defining mammalian orthoreovirus genome packaging signals to build a better vaccine and cancer therapy vector.

Summary of proposal: Mammalian orthoreovirus (MRV) is a clinically benign therapeutic virus that has the natural ability to kill tumor cells and has undergone numerous phase I-III clinical trials against different types of tumors. Additionally, it is also an exciting candidate for use as a carrier for delivering exogenous therapeutic genes. However, to optimize the use of MRV for therapy, we need to understand better how the virus replicates and packages its genome into its progeny virions. The objective of this proposal is to provide a full roadmap of the MRV genome and identify sequences within the genome that are necessary for its incorporation into the virion, and regions that are amenable to the insertion of exogenous therapeutic genes.

Congratulations Dr. Cathy Miller!