The Matreyek lab is awarded a 2-year R21 grant to study how various Sarbecovirus (ie. SARS-like coronavirus) receptor binding domain sequences correspond to binding and infection with various ACE2 receptor sequences (eg. variants of human ACE2, or sequences of diverse ACE2 orthologs across mammals) to find the rules governing molecular compatibilities between these viruses and their potential hosts. More information here.
Nidhi and Nisha get travel awards for Discover BMB 2023
Both Nidhi and Nisha receive travel awards to offset costs of attending and presenting at the Discover BMB 2023 in March in Seattle! Good job you two, and thanks ASBMB for providing these travel award opportunities to trainees!
PLoS Biology paper is published!
Our paper, entitled “Expanded ACE2 dependencies of diverse SARS-like coronavirus receptor binding domains” (Roelle et al), is published in PLoS Biology!
Kenny gives a talk at ASV2022
Kenny gave a workshop talk at the American Society for Virology Annual Meeting in Madison, Wisconsin, in July 2022. Here’s a link to the practice version of that talk, posted onto YouTube (It’s almost an exact replica of the actual talk, minus a few minor changes).
Anh graduates from the lab
Anh officially leaves the lab, as he graduates from CWRU (in three years!), and will be attending the Rice University Dept of Bioengineering in the fall to start his PhD. Good luck, Anh!
Olivia joins the lab!
Olivia Delsignore joins the lab as an RA1. Welcome, Olivia!
Kenny gives a talk at ASV 2021
Find his 5-minute talk about the lab’s recent PLoS Pathogens paper about the impacts of ACE2 protein abundance / expression and sequence differences on SARS-CoV & SARS-CoV-2 infection here.
First paper from the lab published!
The first paper from our lab is now out in PLOS Pathogens! We created a panel of ACE2 variant cells and found that (pseudo)viruses with SARS-CoV spike, or the WT or N501Y SARS-CoV-2 spikes, differentially use the ACE2 protein surface during entry. This was a team effort, with Nidhi and Sarah on pseudotyped virus assays and molecular cloning, with Anna and Vini performing the BSL3 SARS-CoV-2 work. Great job, everyone!
The lab is awarded an ESI R35 from NIGMS!
Our application, titled “Recombinant DNA Technologies for Multiplex Genetic Assays in Human Cells” was funded by the National Institutes of Health, National Institute for General Medical Sciences. This five year, $250,000 direct cost per year grant will support our continued efforts pairing landing pad -based cell engineering with multiplex assays to unlock new aspects of protein and cell biology, as well as improving our understanding of human genetics. Goals include creating generalizable, multiplex methods for functional complementation, fluorescent transcriptional reporters, & large-scale cDNA screening. Thank you NIH NIGMS for supporting us with this wonderful funding mechanism!
Anh wins a scholarship X2
Anh is selected as a CWRU SOURCE – Provost Summer Undergraduate Research Grant (PSURG) 2021 Summer Research Scholar, which will support his time in the lab performing research over the summer of 2021. Congrats, Anh!