2017

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Ron Geller

Ron Geller

https://www.uv.es/viralbiology

ORCID

ron.geller@uv.es

Finish date: 2017

Affiliation: Institute for Integrative Systems Biology, I2SysBio (Universitat de València-CSIC)

I obtained my Bachelor of Science in Biopsychology (2000) with high honors from the psychology department of the University of California in Santa Barbara (USA). I subsequently worked as a research assistant in the Structural Biology Department at Stanford University, USA (2000-2002) in the group of Dr. Peter Parham, investigating the evolution of immune genes.  I then did a PhD in the Biology department at Stanford University under the direction of Dr. Judith Frydman (Stanford University) and Dr. Raul Andino (University of California at San Francisco; 2002-2008). There, I investigated the interaction between RNA viruses and the host protein folding machinery, demonstrating that inhibitors of the cellular protein folding machinery constitute promising targets for antiviral therapy that are both broad-spectrum and refractory to the development of drug resistance. I continued on to do a first postdoctoral stay in the same laboratories (2008-2011), to expand our studies of the antiviral potential of protein folding inhibitors against medically relevant RNA viruses and to investigate the influence of protein folding factors on viral evolution. During this time, I also co-founded a company (Avira Therapeutics, LLC) aimed at evaluating the potential of inhibitors of the cellular protein folding machinery as antiviral targets.  I subsequently moved to the University of Valencia to do a second postdoc (2012-2015) in the group of Dr. Rafael Sanjuan. There, I investigated the mechanisms of mutation rates in RNA viruses, providing the first measurement of the mutation rate of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) in vivo and insights into the mutational spectrum of both HIV and hepatitis C virus. In 2016 I obtained the Ramon y Cajal fellowship and in 2017 I started my independent research group at the Institute for Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio; University of Valencia-CSIC), The viral Biology group, where we are investigating the interaction of RNA viruses with the host as well as the causes and consequences of mutations in RNA viruses.

People associated with the project as technical support staff: 1