Viruses can teach us the foundations of immunology by guiding research towards the most critical components and pathways involved in an antiviral immune response.  The strong evolutionary pressure on viruses to efficiently enter a cell, replicate, exit and transmit to the next host drive the virus to become a streamlined machine that can manipulate the host cell to serve its purpose.  Studying the host processes that are targeted, blocked or modified by the virus can lead us to those pathways that are most important in host defense or completion of the viral life cycle, and therefore can help guide development of improved vaccines, vectors, and anti-viral drugs.  Broadly, my interest is in understanding the mechanisms by which viruses manipulate the host environment to achieve the goal of replication and transmission.