Kathy Shair, PhD

The Shair lab studies the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection and EBV oncogenic mechanisms. EBV is a ubiquitous pathogen that is classified as a human tumor virus because it is associated with the neoplastic cells of a number of B-cell lymphomas and epithelial cell carcinomas. Our goal is to understand the host and viral molecular determinants of EBV oncogenesis in human cells and experimental culture models of EBV infection.  A major focus of the lab is to understand the molecular pathogenesis of EBV in nasopharyngeal carcinoma.  There are three primary research projects: 1) elucidating the mechanism by which EBV oncogenic proteins modulate the DNA damage response, 2) developing experimental organoid models of the nasopharyngeal epithelia to understand early infection events in the nasopharynx, 3) identifying EBV serological biomarkers for risk assessment and the early detection of EBV-associated cancers.  There is currently no FDA-approved prophylactic vaccine that can prevent EBV infection.  Given that EBV infection is persistent for the lifetime of the host and the high seroprevalence in the adult population, our ultimate goal is to understand why some individuals could be at risk of developing EBV-associated cancers.