Meet the Team

The D’Orso lab has extensive experience in studying mechanisms of gene regulation in the context of human health and disease. Two major areas of study have been: 1) the characterization of mechanisms regulating HIV-1 proviral transcription and their implications for viral latency and reactivation, and 2) the basic understanding and therapeutic exploitation of mechanisms involved in the initiation and/or maintenance of human cancer. Studies on these research areas focus on exploring how gene regulatory programs normally operate and, on the identification, and exploitation of drug targets in these pathways. These include the characterization of viral and host factors, non-coding RNAs, cell signaling and epigenetic programs. We have pioneered new concepts in the regulation of gene expression, found new factors involved in the activation and maintenance of transcriptional programs, and implemented next-generation sequencing approaches and computational tools to broadly define how these factors operate.

Since 2011, Dr. D’Orso has trained 6 Ph.D. students (3 already graduated and doing postdocs somewhere else), rotated 16 Ph.D. or MSTP students, and trained 14 undergraduate students, 5 high school students, and 6 postdocs. Our students have received training grants (Cellular and Molecular biology, Molecular Microbiology and Pharmacology), predoctoral fellowships from Ford Foundation, NSF, and NIH, including one NCI predoctoral-to-postdoctoral fellow transition award (F99/K00).

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