Dr Yorgo Modis
- Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow
- Reader in Virology and Immunology
Contact
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Location
- Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Francis Crick Avenue, Cambridge, CB2 0QH
About
Education
1992-1995 B.A. in Biochemistry (First Class) from the University of Cambridge (U.K.)
1995-1999 Ph.D. (Thesis Advisor: Rik Wierenga) from the European Molecular Biology Laboratory, Heidelberg (Germany)
Positions and experience
1999-2005 Postdoctoral Fellow with Prof. Stephen C. Harrison, Harvard Medical School
2005-2010 Assistant Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University
2010-2014 Associate Professor of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University
2014- Wellcome Trust Senior Research Fellow, Dept. of Medicine, University of Cambridge
2016- Reader in Virology and Immunology, Dept. of Medicine, University of Cambridge
Research
Our overarching goal is to gain a molecular understanding of how the cell recognizes cytosolic viral RNA and how it silences viral gene expression with the necessary sensitivity and specificity. We are applying a complementary set of biophysical, biochemical and cell biological approaches, with a focus on using high-resolution structural information to obtain detailed mechanistic insights with atomic-level detail.
Our key goals are to understand:
-how cells distinguish viral from endogenous nucleic acids
-how the immune response against double-stranded RNA is generated and amplified
-how cells recognize and silence integrated viral DNA
This will provide invaluable insights on fundamental principles of host-pathogen recognition, chromatin regulation and host-virus coevolution.