Valery Z. Grdzelishvili, Ph.D. (Professor, Principal Investigator). I was born in Baku, Azerbaijan (former USSR), grew up in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia (former USSR), and studied towards all my degrees (B.S., M.S. and Ph.D.) at the M.V. Lomonosov Moscow State University, a flagship USSR/Russian research institution. In November 1998, just days after defending my dissertation, I moved to University of Florida where I worked as a postdoctoral fellow under the mentorship of Dr. William O. Dawson to study molecular mechanisms of gene expression in RNA viruses. Two years later, I moved to University of Wisconsin-Madison where I continued to work with positive-strand RNA viruses as a Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Paul Ahlquist (host factors of virus replication). In 2004, I moved back to University of Florida as a Research Assistant Professor in the laboratory of Dr. Sue Moyer and switched my research focus from positive-strand to negative-strand RNA viruses (the order Mononegavirales). In 2006 I started my own laboratory at the UNC Charlotte Department of Biological Sciences. Our laboratory is focused on molecular biology and various applications of nonsegmented negative-strand RNA viruses [vesicular stomatitis virus (VSV) in particular]. The major focus is the exploitation of existing and engineering new viruses as clinically important anticancer (“oncolytic”) agents. We are particularly interested in the identification and characterization of cellular and viral determinants of susceptibility or resistance of pancreatic cancer cells to VSV and other oncolytic viruses.
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Cassandra (Cassie) Catacalos (Ph.D. Student). I was born in New Jersey but grew up in Mooresville, NC where just down the road, I received my B.S. from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) in Biology with a concentration in cell and molecular biology. I pursued undergraduate and graduate research studying post-transcriptional gene regulation in the malaria parasite, Plasmodium falciparum. During this time, I developed an interest in the RNA modification, m6A. Currently, I am particularly interested in exploring viral RNA regulatory pathways during my doctoral studies in the Grdzelishvili lab. Outside of the lab, I enjoy disc golfing, backpacking, and running marathons.
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Jacob Hawkins (Ph.D. Student). I am from Denver, North Carolina. It is my goal to work in the research field with topics concerning medicine and treating chronic illnesses. Genetic engineering and its overlap with virology have always been of interest to me so I am very happy to now be working with recombinant viruses for clinical purposes.
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Nathaniel Foret (early-entry M.S. Student). I am from Charlotte, NC. I am currently an undergrad and an Early Entry M.S. student at UNCC perusing my B.S./M.S. in biology, with hopes to go on to grad school to pursue a Ph.D. I want to work on research with recombinant DNA techniques to address things like cancers and genetic diseases.
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Aroosh Goje (undergraduate research). I was born in Chicago, IL but have lived in Charlotte, NC nearly all my life. I am currently an undergraduate student majoring in Biology here at UNC Charlotte. My goal is to go to medical school and become a doctor with an interest in pediatrics. I look forward to being involved with the Grdzelishvili Lab and learning all that I can about this field of research.
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Irakli Mataradze (undergraduate research). I was born in Tbilisi, Georgia. Spent 17 years of my life there and moved to North Carolina in 2022. I’m a junior at UNCC and want to pursue a medical career. I find particular interest in Virology, Genetics and Immunology. I love playing tennis and soccer when I’m free and fun fact: I can speak 4 languages
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Charlotte Johnstone (undergraduate research).
