Dr. Orly Laufman

RNA viruses including corona, zika and dengue are a major threat to human health. We study how RNA viruses interact with their host cells and transform them into viral manufactories. Our main model is enteroviruses (EVs), common human pathogens, that cause severe medical complications in young children. We tackle key questions including: How EVs that express only a handful of proteins take control over human cells with complex protein machineries? How EVs hijack host organelles and repurpose them into a makeshift virus factory? We aim to build a complete mechanistic picture of the EV replication process, that will help develop better antivirals, for a broad spectrum of RNA viruses.