Sidd Krishnamurthy Ph.D. completed a combined B.S./M.S. degree in Microbiology from the University of California in San Diego (Revelle College), earned a Ph.D. in Immunology from the Washington University in St. Louis, and completed his postdoctoral research with Yasmine Belkaid in the Metaorganism Immunity Section at the National Institutes of Health. He joined the faculty of the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at the University of Colorado Anschutz School of Medicine in 2024.
The mission of the Krishnamurthy lab is to improve human health by leveraging the interplay between viral elements and the enteric immune system.
1. We examine how the intestinal virome influences immunity and viral infection
All animal genomes have numerous remnants of diverse viral sequences in their genome. These sequences alter host physiology and immunity, fundamentally changing the outcome of viral infections.
2. We examine how exogenous viruses evade the antiviral strategies of the intestine to maintain infection competence.
The intestinal barrier is a multicellular tissue that secretes diverse factors to restrict viral infection; however, because viruses can still infect this tissue, they can clearly evade these defense mechanisms. We use the tools of molecular virology and mucosal immunology to study these viral evasion proteins and discover these mechanisms.
3. We examine how viral evasion in the intestinal tract of animal reservoirs poises spillover into new hosts.
Many zoonotic viruses exist as enteric viruses in their reservoir hosts while infecting other human tissues. We study how viruses evolve in these animal intestinal reservoirs and how these adaptations might make a virus more or less likely to be able to infect a human.
