Walter N Moss

Summary

I am particularly interested in RNA structures involved in pathogenic viral infections. As a graduate student in the Douglas Turner lab (University of Rochester), my work revealed that influenza virus transcripts contain widespread, conserved, and stable RNA structure. I identified global trends in stability that correlate to the species-specificity of the virus, which has implications in understanding how animal-to-human (pandemic-causing) transmissions can occur. My postdoctoral work in the Joan Steitz lab (Yale University) focused on Epstein–Barr virus (EBV). Using a combination of bioinformatics and high-throughput sequencing, I discovered that ~30% of the EBV genome is likely to generate RNAs with conserved and thermodynamically stable structures, implicating them as functional elements. This includes novel structured ncRNAs (the EBV stable intronic sequence RNAs [sisRNAs]) that are abundantly produced during a highly oncogenic type of latent infection. As an Assistant Professor at Iowa State University I have carried on my work on EBV and influenza regulatory and ncRNAs and expanded our search to other genomes significant to human health. My long-term goal is to establish methodological pipelines that facilitate the discovery of structural motifs with significance to human health and disease, using innovative in silico tools, biochemical and cell/molecular biological approaches.

Biochemistry Bioinformatics Genomics Microbiology Molecular Biology Virology

Past or current institution affiliations