Welcome to the Serra-Moreno Lab

The Serra-Moreno lab studies the mechanisms by which human pathogens such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), its close relative Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV), and SARS-CoV-2 (the causative agent of COVID-19) circumvent the barriers of the innate immunity in their respective hosts and cause disease. Current projects in the lab are investigating the interplay between these human pathogens and the cellular factors Tetherin/BST2, SERINC5, BCA2 and autophagy. 

Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) is the causative agent of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), a disease that has caused 36 million deaths. Although current treatments are effective at keeping HIV to undetectable levels, they are unable to eliminate this virus from infected cells. Therefore, there is a critical need to find strategies to eradicate HIV. The research program in the Serra-Moreno lab focuses on understanding how HIV overcomes the innate immune barriers in its target cells to establish a chronic infection, with the goal of using this information to find new avenues for therapeutic intervention.

Coronaviruses have gained much attention recently due to the COVID-19 pandemic, caused by a novel coronavirus, SARS-CoV-2. SARS-CoV-2 shares 80% identity with SARS-CoV, an eradicated virus that emerged in the human population in 2002, after its transmission from bats. Both SARS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2 infect epithelial cells in the gastric and respiratory tract. However, SARS-CoV-2 is much more pathogenic, very stable, with many person-to-person transmissions, which can occur even before individuals exhibit any symptoms. The absence of symptoms during the dissemination phase has significantly complicated the implementation of contingency measures to avoid the global spread of SARS-CoV-2. At this moment, the only measures to prevent the transmission of the virus are social distancing and physical barriers: goggles, face masks and gloves. Therefore, there is a critical need to investigate the infectivity and pathogenicity features of SARS-CoV-2, so we can develop strategies to halt its propagation. Our lab is currently investigating the role of autophagy as a source of double membrane vesicles to create viroplasms, membrane factories for genome replication. We are also investigating the role of the antiviral factors BST2/Tetherin and SERINC5 in the restriction of SARS-CoV-2 as well as the countermeasures this virus has evolved to antagonize these cellular defenses.

Mentoring Philosophy

I personally mentor undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-doctoral fellows in my lab. As part of my mentoring strategies, I require rigor, diligence, and hard work, but I also encourage creativity and critical thinking. Everyone is part of a team, in which all voices are heard equally. As a research mentor, I supervise my mentees in a customized manner. Once they are used to the lab safety procedures and are proficient in general lab techniques, we (the student and I) decide on the mentoring approach that fits best the person's needs. Some trainees need more freedom and prefer having weekly meetings to report their progress. Others prefer more direct interactions on a daily basis. Regardless of the mentoring style, my purpose is to foster independent scientists able to lead their own research projects by applying critical thinking and scientific method to test their hypotheses in an unbiased manner. Therefore, mentees graduating from my lab are provided with a skillset that will allow them to successfully join the workforce, either in industry or academia.

If you are interested in joining the lab or learning more, please contact Dr. Serra-Moreno.