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Joe DeRisi
HHMI Investigator
University of California, San Francisco
Joe will reveal the incredible diversity of viruses, from their elaborate protein structures to
their varied genomes, which can be composed of DNA or RNA. He will explain how powerful new
sequencing technologies he uses are based on the basic molecular biology of DNA and RNA hybridization.
Harnessing nucleotide hybridization with various tricks, including powerful new computing methods,
has allowed the development of ViroChips. Virochips are DNA microarrays that can be used to
detect and classify new viruses associated with various diseases, including a devastating infection killing
parrots, bee colony collapse disorder, and human SARS. He will describe how ViroChip technology has
helped identify a new virus infecting patients in Nicaragua that Dr. Harris has been screening for
dengue fever.
Eva Harris
Professor of Infectious Diseases
University of California, Berkeley
Eva will describe dengue fever, the rapidly emerging viral disease that has been spreading
throughout Central America and is now being detected in the United States. The dengue virus infects
individuals bitten by infected mosquitoes of several species. She will describe how she uses cuttingedge
molecular biology, as well as community-based fieldwork, to study and fight the virus. She is interested
in understanding why some patients, despite fighting off a first dengue infection, develop the
deadly hemorrhagic form of the illness when infected a second time. She will explain how our immune
system sometimes—rather than protecting us—works against us.
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