Paul Andrew Rowley

Dr. Rowley’s research interests are centered on the complex interactions that occur between a virus and it’s host. The Rowley laboratory aims to better understand how viruses hijack host proteins and how antiviral host proteins thwart virus replication. The laboratory uses both mammalian cell culture and the model eukaryote Saccharomyces cerevisiae to understand how viral antagonism has shaped the evolution and function of host proteins. Dr. Rowley is currently investigating the mechanistic details of viral nuclear entry via the nuclear pore complex in primates, and how RNA metabolism has evolved as a potent antiviral defense mechanism within Saccharomyces yeasts.

"The vermin only tease and pinch
Their foes superior by an inch.
So, naturalists observe, a flea
Has smaller fleas that on him prey;
And these have smaller still to bite 'em,
And so proceed ad infinitum."
- Jonathan Swift

My B.A. at The University of Warwick (UK) introduced me to the fascinating aspects of how viruses cause disease. After working in the food safety industry I began a PhD studying the biology of bacterial viruses (Aberdeen, UK). After relocating to Texas, I studied viruses that infect higher organisms, including yeast and primates (including humans!) using techniques from molecular biology and evolution. I continued this work as a postdoc at The Biofrontiers Institute (Boulder, CO).

• ASM Science Teaching Fellowship, The American Society for Microbiology, October 2014.
• Winner of the Rom Rhome International Professional Development Award, The University of Texas at Austin, February 2014.
• Second Place - Young Microbiologist of the Year Award, The Society for General Microbiology, June 2006.