Marlene Bouvier, PhD

Our research is focused on understanding the immunology, structural biology, and cell biology of the MHC class I processing and presentation pathway, which is vital to both adaptive and innate immunity. We tackle fundamental questions on the function and molecular mechanisms of key proteins and complexes that influence antigen processing, selection, and loading onto MHC class I molecules. Given the key role of the MHC class I pathway in the detection of virally infected cells, it is not surprising that viruses have evolved various strategies to interfere with this pathway, ultimately abrogating antigen presentation. We have a keen interest in characterizing the molecular and functional mechanisms that human viruses, in particular Adenoviruses, have evolved to evade host immunity. Many of these viral evasion mechanisms involve targeting cell-surface proteins that are critical for the initiation of specific immune responses. We also pursue high-throughput screening projects to identify small molecule inhibitors of host-virus protein-protein interaction. Overall, our projects share an unifying theme centered on the MHC class I system. We use a multidisciplinary approach that includes immunology, virology, crystallography, biochemistry, and molecular biology. Our work offers many opportunities for translational research in infectious diseases and immunotherapies.