Video of the Month: A calcium storm
From the Labs opens July 2019 with a Video of the Month, showing the calcium ‘storm’ rotavirus triggers in infected cells.
Calcium signaling in rotavirus infection
Cells expressing a fluorescent calcium sensor (green) were infected with rotavirus, a virus that causes acute gastroenteritis. The rotavirus-infected cells (pink) trigger an intercellular calcium wave that increases calcium in surrounding uninfected cells. (scale bar = 100 μm; video courtesy of the Hyser lab).
The laboratory of Dr. Joseph Hyser is dedicated to investigating a number of aspects related to the mechanisms of action of pathogens such as rotavirus. The lab’s specific areas of interest include:
- Enteric virus calcium channel blockers
- Exploitation of host calcium signaling pathways by microbes
- Characterization of viral Ion channels (viroporins)
- Engineering of human intestinal enteroids
Read one of Hyser’s most recent publications about how they ‘raised the volume’ of hard-to-detect gut-body communication in the journal Cellular and Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology and in From the Labs.
Dr. Joseph Hyser is an assistant professor of virology and microbiology and a member of the Alkek Center for Metagenomics and Microbiome Research and the Dan L Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center at Baylor College of Medicine.
–By Ana María Rodríguez, Ph.D.
