Prashanth Gowda

Green Fellows project abstract:

Norovirus is a positive-sense, non-enveloped, single-stranded RNA virus and is the leading cause of gastroenteritis. Murine Norovirus (MNV) is used as a model for Human Norovirus due to its similarity to Human Norovirus and its ability to grow easily in vitro and in vivo. Currently, there is no effective way to real-time monitor MNV replication and previous attempts to add a reporter into the viral genome were unsuccessful. FlipGFP alters the green fluorescent protein (GFP) by flipping two beta strands to be parallel instead of antiparallel and has a cleavage site that can be cut to return the beta strands back into its antiparallel orientation. Since MNV encodes a protease (NS6), NS6 can cleave the inserted cleavage site of the FlipGFP reporter during infection and cause the infected cell to appear green when imaged. The FlipGFP reporter was found to yield specific signals, both when the NS6 protease is directly transfected into the cell and during infection. Further, the NS67 and NS123 cleavage sites yielded the greatest specific signal for the NS6 protease. Future studies using flow cytometry to validate the efficacy of the reporter are needed.

 

​​What does research mean to you? 

Research is the opportunity to delve into the unknown. Many common diseases still place a large physical, financial, and emotional burden on millions of people and their families. Through research, we are able to learn more about the pathophysiology of these diseases, ultimately leading to the creation of effective treatments or biomarkers for early detection. Research allows me to play a small, but significant role in this process. Each experiment that I run leads one step closer to the goal. I am motivated by knowing that the research I am doing now may one day play an important role in improving the health outcomes of millions around the world.

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Tell us about your journey​!

Intrigued by what I learned in my science classes during high school, I was very interested in pursuing research opportunities during college. I got my first research opportunity when I joined the research division of the UTD University Emergency Response Team. Last summer, I worked as a research intern at an Internal Medicine Research Laboratory at the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center where I gained valuable experience with various lab techniques and was introduced to the research writing process. Although I enjoyed this research experience, I wanted to be able to work on my own research project rather than just assisting a graduate student. After learning about the Green Fellowship, I knew I wanted to apply to this program as it would allow me to work more independently and gain insight into if I would want to obtain a Ph.D. After my acceptance into the program, I decided to join an immunology lab due to my experiences with asthma growing up. All of my research experiences have prepared and motivated me to continue research after college.

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What was your favorite part about the program? 

My favorite part was being able to lead my own research project rather than just helping a graduate student with their project. I liked the amount of independence I was given to plan out my weeks and

what experiments I would need to set up. I also liked how accessible my PI was. I was always able to consistently communicate with my PI, both in person and through Slack, and get quick responses. I was also able to meet with my PI once a week to discuss how everything was going and to work together to set up experiments or troubleshoot. Also, I really enjoyed the lab environment. Everyone was super nice and helpful and did a great job teaching me all the lab techniques I would need to know. I was always comfortable asking questions to any member of the lab.

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What was the biggest thing you learned from the program?

I learned what it is like to be a graduate student and how to be more independent in a research setting. I had to determine what experiments to run and how to set them up, troubleshoot when things went wrong, organize all my data and what I needed to do, create a schedule for the week, etc. This has allowed me to make more informed decisions on my future career path. I also learned how to effectively multitask as I had to work on current experiments while also preparing for future experiments.

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Advice for Future Green Fellows

• Don’t be afraid to ask questions

• Get to know the people in your lab and other green fellows

• Expect to make mistakes

• Read research papers from the lab to better understand your project

• Learn to effectively communicate your research to others

• Keep your data and lab notebook organized