The Watterson lab focuses on understanding the 3D structure of viruses to help guide new vaccines and therapies for important human pathogens, such as the flaviviruses dengue, Zika and West Nile virus.
Our group has developed faster, safer and better approaches to understanding flavivirus structure which allows new vaccines to be designed at the molecular level. We have also identified new targets for broad-spectrum therapeutic antibodies that can be used to treat multiple mosquito-borne flavivirus infections.
Our findings are now being used to develop next generation vaccines therapeutics that could target both current and future flavivirus outbreaks.