Andrew Tai

Andrew Tai, MD, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Internal Medicine
Accepting New Students?
No
Trainings and Identities:
Implicit Bias Training, Anti-Racism Training, Bystander Training
Research Interests:
virus-cell interaction, positive-strand RNA viruses, flaviviruses, cell biology of RNA virus infeciton

Science, like all human endeavors, can only benefit from a diverse range of perspectives and backgrounds. I support the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion in scientific training and practice.

All viruses are obligate parasites in that they require a host cell to complete their infection cycles. Positive-strand RNA viruses, which is a large family of viruses that includes many medically important viruses, all form specialized virus-induced membrane structures within infected cells that support genome replication. These structures have been termed replication organelles or replication compartments (RCs). The cell biology of RC formation is incompletely understood. We are interested in identifying and characterizing the cellular factors that support RC formation specifically and infection more generally for flaviviruses (dengue, Zika). We are also engaged in SARS-CoV-2 research in collaboration with other laboratories.