Ranya Guennoun

Program: Immunology

Current advisor: Tarin Bigley, MD, PhD

Undergraduate university: Oregon State University, 2019

Enrollment year: 2021

Research summary
C.elegans anti-viral defense mechanisms against Orsay Virus

This past summer I worked in the lab of Dr. David Wang. I investigated the role of lipid and lipid regulatory genes on Orsay virus infection in C.elegans using RNA interference as well as knock-out mutant worms. The ultimate goal of my project is to extrapolate my findings to viral infection in mammalian cell culture and humans to gain a better understanding of evolutionarily conserved host viral defense mechanisms.

Graduate publications
Casorla-Perez LA, Guennoun R, Cubillas C, Peng B, Kornfeld K, Wang D. 2022 Orsay Virus Infection of Caenorhabditis elegans Is Modulated by Zinc and Dependent on Lipids. J Virol, 96(22):e0121122. PMCID: PMC9682997