Joana Abrantes

The major focus of my research is the study of the host-pathogen co-evolutionary processes by using lagomorph species and their viral diseases as research models (e.g. myxomatosis, rabbit haemorrhagic disease and European brown hare syndrome). The study of the host-pathogen co-evolution implies the characterisation of the evolutionary patterns of change in the host and the pathogen that have resulted from their interaction. 

Therefore, I have been characterising host genes that code for or are involved in the synthesis of receptors used by viruses to initiate their infectious process (e.g. chemokine receptors and ABH antigens) aiming at finding alterations that may confer resistance to the host. I have been also studying the mechanisms driving viral evolution (e.g. recombination, mutation, natural selection) that might be involved in the evasion of viruses from the host immune response.