We invite you to attend a Special Lecture on March 25, 2025 at 3:00pm by Elizabeth Fortunato, PhD, Professor of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho. This hybrid lecture will take place in the UPMC Western Psychiatric Hospital Auditorium or you can watch via Zoom using the information below:
Zoom: Link: https://pitt.zoom.us/j/7402968463?omn=92901025092
Passcode: 318743
Dr. Fortunato received her PhD from the lab of Dr. Suresh Subramani at UC San Diego, where she began her work on DNA double strand break repair/recombination and virus/cell cycle interactions. In 1995 she began her work on HCMV as a post-doc with Dr. Debbie Spector, discovering HCMV was one of only two viruses that induce site-specific breaks in the host DNA (on Chromosome 1), a phenomenon that has been a major focus of her lab, established in 2000 at the University of Idaho. Ultimately, she seeks to understand the long-term ramifications of HCMV/host interactions, hoping to elucidate the mechanism behind the development of CNS/PNS defects in congenitally infected infants. Her lab pioneered the use of neural progenitor cells to study HCMV, showing they were prematurely and abnormally differentiated after infection. Her lab recently published their ground-breaking work using iPSC-derived cerebral organoids, showing the dramatic effects early HCMV infection can have upon neural development. Her lab also recently published work on the interaction of HCMV with the basement membrane protein nidogen 1 (NID1), a gene encoded adjacent to the 1q42 breaksite. NID1 is a neurodevelopmentally important protein potentially linked to the development of CNS birth defects. The lab is now extending these 3D culturing methods to study myelination of peripheral neurons by co-cultured Schwann cells in an effort to explain the development of late-onset sensorineural hearing loss in congenitally infected infants. They believe that HCMV's downregulation of the major PNS myelin protein, myelin protein zero (MPZ), holds the key to induction of this highly prevalent birth defect. Dr. Fortunato has convened multiple sessions at IHW and previously served as a standing member on the NIH Virology B study section.
For more information regarding this lecture or if you would like to schedule a time to meet with Dr. Fortunato during her visit, please contact Beth Wesesky at weseskyma@upmc.edu.
