Rachel Fearns, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of Microbiology
My work focuses on respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). This virus is the major cause of respiratory disease in infants and has been linked to asthma. Studies in animal models have shown that RSV can persist for several months after an initial infection, suggesting that in some cases the virus can evade the immune response. My group is interested in determining the mechanism by which RSV persistence is initiated and maintained. Studies with a related respiratory virus, parainfluenza virus type 5 showed that interferon treatment of virally infected cells caused a change in the viral gene expression pattern and resulted in establishment of a persistent infection, suggesting a possible mechanism for how persistence might be induced in vivo. Furthermore, these studies showed that the persistent virus resides in cells in a transcriptionally inactive state, which could help it to evade detection by the immune response. Based on this work, we are currently investigating which cellular proteins interact with components of the RSV transcription machinery and determining what effect they have on viral gene expression to try and understand the molecular mechanisms underlying RSV persistence.
Representative Publications:
1. Cowton VM, McGivern DR, and Fearns R. Unravelling the complexities of respiratory syncytial virus RNA synthesis. J. Gen. Virol., 2006, 87: 1805-1821.
2. Carlos TS, Fearns R, Randall RE. Interferon induced alterations in the pattern of parainfluenza virus 5 (SV5) transcription and protein synthesis, and the induction of virus inclusion bodies. J. Virol., 2005, 79: 14112-14121.
3. Cowton VM, Fearns R. Evidence that the respiratory syncytial virus polymerase is recruited to nucleotides 1 to 11 at the 3´ end of the nucleocapsid and can scan to access internal signals. J. Virol., 2005, 79: 11311-11322.
4. McGivern DR, Collins PL, Fearns R. Identification of internal sequences in the 3´ leader region of human respiratory syncytial virus that enhance transcription and confer replication processivity. J. Virol., 2005, 79: 2449-2460.
