Dr. Jennifer Hyde joins the Department of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases as an Associate Professor as of July 2026.
Research in the Hyde lab is centered on efforts to define virus-host interactions, with a particular focus on how viral encoded RNA and RNA structures contribute to immune evasion, pathogenesis, and transmission. In particular, they are interested in viral RNA structures of alphaviruses (family Togaviridae), a group of mosquito-borne RNA (+ssRNA) viruses. They aim to address the following gaps in knowledge with our research: 1) Define novel viral RNA structures that contribute to replication and pathogenesis; 2) Define the viral RNA-protein interactome, and the molecular mechanisms by which RNA structure influences viral replication; 3) Define how distinct intracellular environments (e.g. different species, temperature, immune activation) drives RNA-protein interactions to influence replication; 4) Define the role of RNA structure in species tropism, transmission, and pathogenesis. Many alphaviruses cause significant human and veterinary disease (e.g. Ross River virus, chikungunya virus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus) and pose significant risk for pandemic emergence (termed ‘Priority pathogens’), as identified by the World Health Organization, and the NIAID. Thus, understanding the factors that drive transmission and disease pathogenesis of alphaviruses is of critical importance for the future.
Dr. Hyde’s research program focuses on the novel and understudied role of viral RNA structure in driving these processes. RNA plays a central role in regulating all cellular processes in both homeostasis and disease. RNA can adopt complex secondary and tertiary structures which dictate the biological function of these molecules, and is determined by multiple factors including primary sequence, posttranscriptional modification, and protein binding. Although RNA structure is appreciated to be important in regulation of viral replication, how viral RNA structures interact with host proteins to control immune evasion, pathogenesis, and transmission remains largely unexplored.
The goal of Dr. Hyde’s research program is to define RNA structures and the molecular mechanisms by which these structures alter RNA-protein interactions to regulate immune evasion, pathogenesis, and transmission. Studying these interactions will not only provide new opportunities to understand how pathogens cause disease, but may also be broadly applied to viral surveillance and the development of improved therapeutics, including mRNA vaccine development and antiviral targets. While Dr. Hyde’s research interests are focused on viruses, these concepts are also broadly applicable to other disease models, including host RNA structure in cancer, autoimmune disease, and metabolic disorders.