Uploaded August 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Anna Cliffe, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology.
Transcript
What I love about my research is the potential unexpected twists and turns. So viruses are master manipulators of cells in the immune system. And by following a virus that is very successful and persists in the host, we learn things both about the virus and then things we never expected, such as working on proteins relevant to other diseases that really inform on human health. I'm Anna Cliffe, I'm an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology. And my lab works on herpes simplex virus, which infects over five billion people worldwide and persists for life as a silent infection in the nervous system. And it can come out of this silent infection, a process known as reactivation, and cause disease. And it's also linked to the progression of Alzheimer's disease. So my lab works on how the virus persists in the nervous system, how it comes out of hiding to cause disease, and how it can also impact the long term health of the nervous system and potentially cause Alzheimer's disease. So the most direct impact on human health is trying to prevent the virus from reactivating. So working, for example, with members of the Manning Institute for Biotechnology to develop therapeutics that could either lock the virus down and prevent it from reactivating or targeting those pathways in portion for reactivation. And given the huge number of people infected with the virus and the disease that it causes, which can cause physical disease as well as impact people’s mental health, we think this will have a huge impact on human health worldwide.
Anna Cliffe, PhD, is an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology.
Transcript
What I love about my research is the potential unexpected twists and turns. So viruses are master manipulators of cells in the immune system. And by following a virus that is very successful and persists in the host, we learn things both about the virus and then things we never expected, such as working on proteins relevant to other diseases that really inform on human health. I'm Anna Cliffe, I'm an associate professor in the department of microbiology, immunology, and cancer biology. And my lab works on herpes simplex virus, which infects over five billion people worldwide and persists for life as a silent infection in the nervous system. And it can come out of this silent infection, a process known as reactivation, and cause disease. And it's also linked to the progression of Alzheimer's disease. So my lab works on how the virus persists in the nervous system, how it comes out of hiding to cause disease, and how it can also impact the long term health of the nervous system and potentially cause Alzheimer's disease. So the most direct impact on human health is trying to prevent the virus from reactivating. So working, for example, with members of the Manning Institute for Biotechnology to develop therapeutics that could either lock the virus down and prevent it from reactivating or targeting those pathways in portion for reactivation. And given the huge number of people infected with the virus and the disease that it causes, which can cause physical disease as well as impact people’s mental health, we think this will have a huge impact on human health worldwide.
