Seth Schneider’s Three Minute Thesis
Bortezomib as a new herpes treatment and broad-spectrum antiviral
Vaccines for new viral diseases can take years to research, test, and mass-produce. Meanwhile, epidemics can spread quickly and cause significant loss of life during that time. Broad-spectrum antivirals — medications that are effective against multiple pre-existing viruses — might also be effective against new viruses that emerge and allow for earlier treatment of disease. Discovering new antivirals and showing that they are effective against many viruses is crucial to this goal. Bortezomib is an antiviral that is known to be effective against influenza, Zika virus, dengue virus, and multiple other pathogens. I added herpes simplex virus, both 1 and 2, to that list for my thesis project. I demonstrated that low concentrations of bortezomib inhibited herpes infection and did not harm the cells I was trying to protect. Not only could my research result in bortezomib being used to treat herpes infections in the future, which can be fatal to newborn babies and the immunocompromised, but also helps show that bortezomib could be a broad-spectrum antiviral. With many such medications, we can hopefully start treating patients of a new viral epidemic as soon as they get sick, rather than waiting years for a vaccine.
I grew up in Rochester, WA and attended W.F. West High School in Chehalis, WA. There, I greatly benefited from education in several fields, especially molecular genetics, forensics speech and debate, and robotics. I went on to attend Washington State University for both my bachelor’s and doctoral degrees as part of the Students Targeted towards Advanced Research Studies (STARS) program in the School of Molecular Biosciences. As part of this program, I conducted graduate-level research during my undergraduate years, beginning doctoral research in the lab of Dr. Anthony Nicola at the start of my junior year. I graduated with a bachelor’s in genetics and cell biology, a minor in Chinese language and culture, and an Honors program thesis in which I wrote a fiction novel about surviving a zombie-disease outbreak at WSU. I am currently continuing research on herpesvirus biology and look forward to a fruitful career in investigative science.