Dr. Allison Land, Associate Professor

Degree

• Ph.D., University of Manitoba

Training

• Post-doc with Dr. Reuben Harris at the University of Minnesota, 2009-2015
• Ph.D. with Drs. Blake Ball and Frank Plummer at the University of Manitoba, Canada, awarded 2009

Research Interests

• Molecular biology to study innate immunity to viral infections
• Host-pathogen interactions
• Potential sequelae to infection including autoimmune diseases and cancer

My research program uses molecular biology to study innate immunity to viral infections, host-pathogen interactions, and potential sequelae to infection including autoimmune diseases and cancer. I am especially interested in APOBEC3A, a human innate immune protein that deaminates DNA cytosines to DNA uracils. This can have positive consequences if the DNA substrate is a viral pathogen, such as HIV. This could have negative consequences, however, if the DNA substrate were our own, genomic DNA. How is this controlled? That is what I want to know!

I teach Immunology (BIOL 474/574) in the fall, Molecular Biology (BIOL 479/579) in the spring, and Virology (BIOL 473/573) in the summer.

You can find me on LinkedIn.