Karla Kirkegaard

1989 Fellow

Fellowship Institution: University of Colorado, Boulder

Current Institution: Stanford University

Biological Sciences

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About Karla Kirkegaard's Work

The research goal of my laboratory is to understand the unusual transmission genetics of positive-strand RNA viruses and thereby to identify paradigms with relevance to other fields as well. Transmission genetics is an especially interesting topic in the case of RNA viruses. These are nature’s most mutable genomes; this is not only biochemically and genetically interesting, it is also the reason that we have so few antiviral compounds. Our group has used our knowledge of the cell biology and biochemistry of RNA viruses to develop a strategy termed ‘dominant drug targeting’, in which antiviral compounds not only inactivate viral products, but turn them into potent inhibitors.


Awards and Achievements

National Academy of Arts and Sciences

NIH Director's Pioneer Award

AAAS Fellow