Helen Lazear

Associate Professor (Microbiology & Immunology)

9021 Burnett-Womack Building
919-966-3708
helen.lazear [at] med.unc.edu
@lazearlab.bsky.social

Helen grew up in Calgary, Alberta, Canada and did her undergraduate studies at the University of Alberta. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Pennsylvania, where she studied herpes simplex virus neuronal transport in Dr. Harvey Friedman's lab. Her postdoctoral research, with Dr. Mike Diamond at Washington University in St. Louis, focused on innate immune control of West Nile virus pathogenesis. She joined the Microbiology and Immunology Department at UNC in Fall 2015. Work in the Lazear Lab focuses on pathogenic mechanisms of flaviviruses and the innate immune mechanisms that determine tissue and species tropism.

Publications

Melissa Mattocks

Lab Manager melissa_mattocks [at] med.unc.edu

Melissa grew up in North Carolina and received her Bachelor’s degree in Biology from UNC-Chapel Hill. She worked on the development and production of a tetravalent dengue vaccine at the Carolina Vaccine Institute at UNC and later at Global Vaccines, Inc., a not-for-profit vaccine company. Melissa returned to UNC in 2016, joining the Lazear lab as Lab Manager.

Publications
Jasperse BA, Mattocks MD, Noll KE, Ferris MT, Heise MT, Lazear HM (2023) Neuroinvasive flavivirus pathogenesis is restricted by host genetic factors in Collaborative Cross mice, independently of Oas1b. Journal of Virology. PMID: 37310228
Mattocks MD, Plante KS, Fritch EJ, Baric RS, Ferris MT, Heise MT, Lazear HM (2019) Zika virus infection in Collaborative Cross mice. bioRxiv.

Margaret Dedloff

PhD Student (Microbiology & Immunology) mdedloff [at] email.unc.edu

Margaret grew up in western New York and studied Biology and History at Clarkson University, graduating in 2020. As an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Kenneth Wallace characterizing the development of the intestinal stem cell niche in zebrafish. She also participated in an NSF Research Experience for Undergraduates and McNair Scholar Summer Research Program at the University of Georgia in the summers of 2018 and 2019 working with Dr. Eric Harvill understanding gene expression and pathogenesis of Bordetella bronchiseptica. As a 5th-year PhD student in the Lazear Lab, Margaret is studying congenital infections and immune mechanisms at the maternal-fetal interface.

Publications

Celeste Robles

PhD Student (Microbiology & Immunology) crrobles [at] email.unc.edu

Celeste grew up in Raleigh, North Carolina, and graduated with a B.S. in Biology from North Carolina A&T State University in 2023. As an undergraduate, she worked with Dr. Robert Newman using synthetic genomics approaches to re-engineer the mycobacteriophage Giles genome, to transform M. smegmatis. As a MARC scholar, she also participated in the Summer of Learning and Research (SOLAR) program at UNC in 2022, with Dr. James S. Hagood researching lung fibroblasts in a myofibrotic state, testing peptide mimetics and their potential for fibrosis resolution. As a second-year PhD student in the Lazear lab, Celeste is studying HSV reactivation in the skin and vaginal tract, as well as the role of hormonal status in regulating susceptibility to HSV vaginal infection.

Publications

Paola Rivera Garcia

Rotation Student (BBSP) alegarci [at] email.unc.edu

Paola grew up in the southeast of Puerto Rico and earned a B.S. in Microbiology with a minor concentration in biotechnology at the University of Puerto Rico at Humacao in 2023. During her undergraduate years, she participated in the Summer Honors Undergraduate Research Program at Harvard Medical School in the summer of 2022, where she worked with Dr. Kenneth Kaye to characterize phosphorylation sites on a key antigen of Kaposi Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV). This experience sparked Paola's interest in the field of virology. To further her research experience, she joined the PREP program at UNC, where she studied the adaptive immune response to coronavirus vaccines in mouse models with Dr. Mark Heise during 2023-2024. In her free time, Paola enjoys exploring the outdoors in the Triangle area.  

Publications

Autumn Coleman

PREP Student auco [at] email.unc.edu

Autumn is from Greensboro, NC but has moved over 20 times and lived all over the US. She completed her undergraduate degree at Roanoke College in Salem, VA where she studied Biology, Business Administration, and Philosophy and performed research on the impact of humans on cave microbiomes. Following undergrad, Autumn spent a year at Novozymes (now Novogenesis) in their Microbial Quality Control Department. Then she joined the PREP program at UNC, first in the labs of Nat Moorman and Mark Heise studying molecular biology of alphavirus nsP2; she now joins the Lazear lab to further her interests in virology.  

Publications

Cormac Lucas

Postdoctoral Fellow cormac_lucas [at] med.unc.edu

Cormac grew up near Chicago, IL and studied Biochemistry as an undergraduate at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, graduating in 2019, where he worked with Dr. Brenda Wilson characterizing the intracellular trafficking patterns of bacterial AB-type toxins to inform targeted drug delivery to different cellular compartments. After graduating, he joined Dr. Tem Morrison’s laboratory at the University of Colorado School of Medicine as a Microbiology PhD student. Cormac’s dissertation focused on the protective and pathogenic roles of the scavenger receptor MARCO during chikungunya virus infection, including exacerbating lymph node inflammation but improving neutralizing IgM antibody responses. Cormac joined the Lazear Lab as a postdoctoral research associate in August 2024 and is studying how host genetic factors influence susceptibility and skin immune responses to neuroinvasive flavivirus infection. In his free time, Cormac loves to swim and bike, and can also often be found experimenting in the kitchen with some good music in the background.

Publications

Nigel Goins

Research Technician nigel1 [at] live.unc.edu

Nigel grew up in Fayetteville, NC, and graduated from UNC in 2023. He is studying immune mechanisms that control herpes simplex virus neuronal trafficking and skin disease.

Publications
Philip DT, Goins NM, Catanzaro NJ, Misumi I, Whitmire JK, Atkins HM, Lazear HM (2023) Interferon lambda restricts herpes simplex virus skin disease by suppressing neutrophil-mediated pathology. mBio. PMID: 38426749
Philip DT, Goins NM, Lazear HM (2023) A fur plucking model to study herpes simplex virus reactivation and recurrent disease. bioRxiv. PMID: 38106009

Tommy Reinhardt

Undergraduate Researcher thomrein [at] unc.edu

Tommy is a Senior majoring in biology with a chemistry minor.

Derek Carbaugh
M&I PhD student (2020)
Scientist, AskBio
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Publications

Cesar Lopez
M&I PhD Student/MSTP (2021)
Resident/Fellow UCSF
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Publications

Sarah Dulson
Postdoctoral Fellow (2023)
IPDA, Rho Inc.
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Publications

Claire Thefaine
UNC Biology Undergrad Student (2019)
PhD student, University of Minnesota
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Publications

Viren Baharani
UNC Biology Undergrad Student (2021)
PhD Student, Rockefeller University
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Publications

Recent BBSP rotation students (rotation year, thesis lab):
Shenice Harrison (2024, Edward Lab)
Isabel Ott (2024, Matute Lab)
Camryn Pajon (2023, Sheahan Lab)
Che Kang Chang (2023, Heise Lab)
Fulla Abdelgadir (2022, Heise & Gralinski Labs)
Jenny Loome (2018, Heise Lab)
Marta Cruz Cisneros (2018, Heise Lab)

Former Graduate Students:
Josh Nielsen (2020-2023; PhD Student, Cameron Lab)

Former Postdocs:
Nick Catanzaro (2020-2022; Research Associate, Baric Lab)

Former UNC undergraduate students (major, graduation year):
Cameron Somerville (Biology 2024)
Shefali Gandhi (Chemistry 2020)
Leah Gilmore (Biology 2018)

Other Alumni:
Emily Peak (Clemson University Undergrad, Amgen Scholar, Summer 2024)
Pedro Martinez Barbosa (UNC PREP Scholar, 2020)
Nissi Ficklin (NC Central Undergrad, Summer Research Opportunity Program, 2021)