Rosenberg Lab | Research

research

Evolution of HIV Within Patients

HIV is a fast-evolving single stranded RNA virus belonging to the Lentiviral genera within the Retroviridae virus family. The evolutionary dynamics of HIV, shaping the viral quasi-species, are owed to a low-fidelity polymerase and high rate of recombination, allowing the virus to out-compete a variety of natural and artificial selective pressures. Our primary focus for this project is to identify those mutants that increase in frequency within the quasi-species distribution in response to naturally-elicited host selective pressures.

Evolutionary History of Tuberculosis & Leprosy

The Mycobacterium is a genus consisting of more than a hundred species of bacteria found worldwide. A subgroup of this genus, known as the slow-growing mycobacteria, contains a number of important species which serve as the causal agents of numerous human (and animal) diseases, including Tuberculosis and Leprosy. In collaboration with Anne Stone, Lucha Pfister, and Jane Buikstra of the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, as well as Josephine Clark-Curtiss of the Center for Infectious Diseases and Vaccinology, we are studying the evolution of these bacteria and their historical relationship with human populations.