We are excited to share that IDM Master’s student Maris Pedlow has successfully defended her thesis (to a full room and Zoom!) and become a Master of Science! Maris joined our lab last spring, and a year later, has contributed to two different projects which are nearing publication.
Maris worked primarily within the neuropathogenesis and entry projects in our lab with (new) postdoctoral associate Kaleigh Connors and laboratory technician, Zach Frey. She successfully established and utilized multiple CNS cell lines to characterize Oropouche virus (OROV) infection and tropism. This work has contributed to a preprint which is currently online. She found that OROV replicates well in immature neurons, microglia and astrocytes, contributing to data on OROV preferences within the CNS.
Committee members: Drs. Amy Hartman (IDM), Priscilla M Da Silva Castanha (IDM), and Guillermo Rodriguez Bey (HuGen), with Maris Pedlow, MS!
Simultaneously, Maris contributed to an ongoing project with the Amarasinghe lab at Washington University of St. Louis. For this project, she assessed antivirals with pan-bunyaviral potential, with the goal of limiting replication and therefore preventing infection in vitro. Look out for more about this project soon!
We are incredibly proud of the time and effort Maris put into her work in our lab, while juggling a full class schedule. She enthusiastically learned new techniques, established new protocols for our group, and coordinated several lab dinner outings.
After her defense, we celebrated with treats in the CVR break room (the whole lab group pictured below)! We are excited to see where Maris Pedlow, MS, ends up in her next adventure!
