Timothy P. Foster, PhD

The Foster lab investigates cellular and molecular virus-host interactions that function to modulate host antiviral responses.

A complex array of cellular sensors which signal through a diversity of cell-intrinsic networks continuously surveys host cells, detecting pathogen invasion and initiating both innate and adaptive responses to infection. Despite the diversity of pathogen sensing and subsequent signaling pathways, the various pathways converge on a limited subset of transcriptional activators that initiate the host's response to infection and function in the transition from innate to adaptive responses.  For millennia, herpesviruses have evolved with their hosts, over time developing or pirating homologues of cellular proteins, which target these convergence points and function to counteract and subvert the hosts’ natural defenses. Subversion of these innate pathways may permit herpesviruses to establish their characteristic lifelong persistent and chronic infection within its host. Findings from these studies have broad reaching implications from regulation of cell-signaling and rationalized vaccine development to understanding the critical role of viral and host proteins in the variance of viral pathogenesis.