The Miller lab is interested in gaining a better understanding of techniques used by viruses to overcome the host cell response to infection by defining interactions that occur between viruses and the cells they infect. We focus on two important viruses in our studies, mammalian orthoreoviruses and swine influenza viruses. Work on mammalian orthoreoviruses focuses on mechanisms used to escape the host cell shutoff of protein synthesis that occurs as a result of phosphorylation of the alpha subunit of the translation initation factor eIF2 following virus infection. We are investigating the role of virus manipulation of cellular stress granules in viral mRNA translation, as well as defining viral proteins and mRNA sequences that are important for escape from cellular translational shutoff. Work on swine influenza viruses focuses on defining the role of the newly identified influenza virus PB1-F2 protein. These studies include defining the function of PB1-F2 in vitro in swine cells, as well as investigating the impact of PB1-F2 on influenza virus pathogenicity in swine.
