Ben King
COBRE Project: Innate Immune Function in Influenza-Associated Myopathy
Goal: To understand how skeletal muscle damage can occur following viral infection by studying how neutrophils influence the pathology of muscle degeneration.
Outcome: Advancing our knowledge of the contribution of ROS and neutrophils in muscle damage resulting from influenza infection may inform studies about myopathies caused by other viruses.
Project leader qualifications: Dr. King is an expert in genomics and bioinformatics whose research program utilizes genomic and computational approaches to understand the how non-coding RNA regulates the function of the innate immune system and, therefore, serve as determinants of an organism’s response to injury, infection, and regeneration. The zebrafish model for influenza virus infection that his lab uses, combined with genomic and computational methods, provides a powerful platform to study innate immune function to viral infection and skeletal muscle myopathy.
Career Impact of COBRE Support: Dr. King’s proposed research, and mentoring from a renowned expert inmuscle and immunity (Dr. Tidball), will allow Dr. King to generate necessary preliminary data for R01 funding. Dr. King will also be mentored by more local experts in virology (Drs. Kim and Holmes), and modeling hostpathogen interactions using zebrafish (Dr. Wheeler).
Unique contributions: Dr. King’s experience in genomics and bioinformatics and his research interest in noncoding RNA, is complementary to other Center investigators. He will collaborate on Dr. Maginnis’ planned RNA-Seq studies, and be available to collaborate with other Center investigators.
Utilization of COBRE and institutional resources: Dr. King’s proposed research will rely upon the UMaine Zebrafish Facility to maintain zebrafish lines and collect embryos, UMaine Microscopy Core for confocal imaging and analysis, and computing resources provided by the MDIBL Bioinformatics Core.
