Sonali Chaturvedi, PhD

Sonali Chaturvedi’s lab investigates the viral gene circuitry that dictates latency and virulence in herpesviruses—leading causes of transplant rejection, birth defects, and blindness—with the goal of developing resistance-proof therapeutics. In addition, her group is pursuing novel therapeutic approaches for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, and other emerging viruses.

Using super-resolution imaging, as well as molecular and genetic approaches, Chaturvedi elucidated a probabilistic bet-hedging mechanism through which cytomegalovirus establishes latency. Understanding this process may lead to new therapeutic approaches to combat the disease. She also identified a novel feedback circuit regulating gene expression in HSV-1. In another line of work, Chaturvedi discovered an approach to disrupt a transcriptional feedback circuit in herpesviruses by targeting a protein-DNA interaction. She showed that disrupting the feedback circuit efficiently blocked viral replication. And remarkably, this novel antiviral approach proved to be resistant to the evolution of escape.

The Chaturvedi Lab is now applying biochemical approaches, systems virology, and synthetic biology approaches to develop antivirals for SARS-CoV-2, herpesviruses and other emerging viruses.