Yuan-Lin (Celine) Kang

Vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) exploits clathrin endocytic machinery and intracellular actin scaffold of host cells to enter the cells. After entering the cells, VSV travels through endosomal pathway to a destination where acidic environment triggers membrane fusion between VSV and endosome to release genetic content for viral replication. My project focuses on investigating virus entry into host cells. I utilize small molecules identified to inhibit virus trafficking in combination with microscopic imaging analysis to visualize cell entry of various VSV-based pseudoviruses, such as Ebola and Lassa viruses. In doing so, I aim to gain insights of the mechanism underlying the inhibition of viral infection by the drugs.