Kendra Quicke

Kendra joined the lab in October 2018 to determine the cellular tropisms that drive transmission of Zika virus and West Nile virus. She received her BS from the University of Arizona where she worked as an undergraduate evaluating genetically-induced mosquito vector control mechanisms. She earned her PhD from Emory University, where she worked on ZIKV cellular tropism and immune responses to ZIKV infection in human cells. She also investigated the molecular mechanisms governing the regulation of innate immune signaling. Her interests lie in virus-vector relationships and she is currently using microRNA sequencing and microRNA-restricted viruses to identify the cell populations within mosquitoes and vertebrate hosts that are required for ZIKV and WNV transmission.