Thomas S. McCrory

During my undergraduate studies at The University of Rhode Island I first became interested in research after taking a high-level pathobiology course.  This lead to my first undergraduate research project with Dr. Gómez-Chiarri, investigating oyster strain-specific resistance to infection with perkinsus merinus.  This research motivated me to apply to the pathobiology program at Penn State University and to enter the summer internship program at the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in Narragansett, RI.  At the EPA I was a member of a group that assessed dissolved oxygen tolerances in Atlantic killfish (fundulus heteroclitus). 

Soon after I started my graduate program at PSU, I joined Dr. Anthony Schmitt’s lab and started investigating Nipah and Hendra virus.  These zoonotic viruses are newly-emerged highly pathogenic paramyxoviruses distantly related to measles and mumps virus.  Nipah and Hendra virus are BSL-4 restricted viruses with no effective therapeutics.  Our goal is to identify virus and host factors that are important for virus particle assembly and budding.  This will allow identification of novel strategies to inhibit virus particle production using small peptide inhibitors.