University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · Microbiology & ImmunologyOncoViral Insights Lab
Blossom A Damania · Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Research Focus
Dr. Blossom Damania's lab at the University of North Carolina focuses on understanding how certain viruses, particularly Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) and others, can lead to cancer. The research aims to uncover the mechanisms through which these viruses cause diseases like lymphoma and to explore new therapeutic approaches to combat these cancers. By studying the interactions between the virus and human cells, the lab hopes to develop strategies for prevention and treatment of virus-related malignancies.
Epstein-Barr Viruslymphomaviral oncogenesiscancer biologytherapeuticsimmune evasionviral proteinscell signalingepigenetics
Research Aims
4AIM 01Investigate how EBV contributes to lymphomagenesis by studying FAM72A expression.
AIM 02Characterize the molecular properties of oncogenic viruses like EBV, KSHV, and HPV.
AIM 03Explore the role of viral long non-coding RNAs in cancer development.
AIM 04Examine how virus-infected cells modulate tumorigenesis through extracellular vesicles.
Skills the Lab Values
cell culturemouse modelsWestern blotRNA sequencingPCRgenomicsmass spectrometrybioinformaticsflow cytometry
Output against the department
Publications421top 8% of dept.40th of 486
this lab
most publishedleast published
Citations13ktop 29% of dept.140th of 486
this lab
most citedleast cited
Career totals from OpenAlex, compared against labs that share a department. A department spans everything from one paper to tens of thousands, so bar heights are on a log scale — otherwise the largest lab would flatten every other bar to a line.