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KSHV 2025 Abstract Award Winners Presentation

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KSHV 2025 Abstract Award Winners

On behalf of the KAPOSI’S SARCOMA HERPESVIRUS (KSHV) AND RELATED AGENTS ASSOCIATION, we congratulate the following trainees (graduate students, postdocs and pre-doctoral study technicians working in academic or government labs):

  • Zakayo Ernesti
    Ocean Road Cancer Institute
    Dar es Salaam, United Republic of Tanzania
    Graduate Student
    “Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices Towards Kaposi Sarcoma Among People with HIV in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.”
  • Jonna Espera
    University of California, Davis
    Sacramento, USA
    Pre-doctoral study technician working in academic or government lab
    “Design, Development, and Evaluation of Gene Therapeutic Specific to KSHV-Associated Diseases”
  • James E Glassbrook
    National Cancer Institute
    Bethesda, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Patient-Derived Xenografts of Primary Effusion Lymphoma Retain Key Features In Vivo”
  • Kurtis Host
    Division of Hematology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University
    Columbus, OH, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “DNA methylation profiling of KSHV has diagnostic potential to inform the viral activation state”
  • Tomoki Inagaki
    University of California, Davis
    Sacramento, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Characterization of Terminal Repeats as Inducible Gene Enhancer”
  • Qian Li
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Chapel Hill, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “KSHV and HPV Modulate Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition in Oral Epithelial Cells”
  • Shutong Li
    Section of Infection and Immunity, Herman Ostrow School of Dentistry, University of Southern California
    Los Angeles, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Bacteria-virus interaction identifies an unexpected role of ISGylation in promoting gamma herpesvirus replication”
  • Pankaj Kumar Madheshiya
    Department of Molecular Biophysics & Biochemistry, Yale University
    New Haven, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Structural Basis for Viral Recruitment of Hypophosphorylated RNA Polymerase II for Late Gene Transcription in the Beta/Gammaherpesviruses”
  • Sara Makanani
    University of California, Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Herpesvirus Latency Proteins as Phosphorylation-Triggered Biosensors”
  • Uwesu Muki
    Dar es Salaa m
    Dar es Salaa m, United Republic of Tanzania
    Graduate Student
    “The Burden and Clinical Outcomes of Kaposi Sarcoma Among Elderly Individuals in Tanzania”
  • Mulumeoderhwa Pierrot
    Catholic University Hospital
    Bukavu, the Democratic Republic of Congo
    Pre-doctoral study technician working in academic or government lab
    “Kaposi’s Sarcoma: Epidemiological, Clinical and Morphological Studies in the Western and  Eastern Parts of the Democratic Republic of Congo”
  • Ashwin Nair
    National Cancer Institute
    Bethesda, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Sp1-Driven ORF75 Expression During Latency and ORF75 SUMOylation is Essential for KSHV Pathogenesis”
  • Tiffany Nelson
    University of Florida
    Gainesville, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Inhibition of Kaposi’s Sarcoma-Associated Herpesvirus Lytic Replication and Oncogenesis by STING Agonists”
  • Filipa Prata-Silva
    Católica Biomedical Research Centre, Católica Medical School, Universidade Católica Portuguesa
    Lisbon, Portugal
    Graduate Student
    “KSHV LANA Interaction With MLL1 Complex Facilitates Viral Persistence”
  • Esther Rodriguez
    Irell & Manella Graduate School of Biological Sciences of City of Hope
    Duarte, USA
    Graduate Student
    “A Multivalent MVA-KSHV Vaccine Elicits Robust Neutralizing Antibody Response in BALB/c Mice and Common Marmosets”
  • Juan Carlos Silva
    University of California, Los Angeles
    Los Angeles, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Structure of the Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus gB in post-fusion conformation”
  • Iyabode Tiamiyu
    Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center
    Seattle, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Cytotoxic T-cells Recognizing Lytic KSHV Gene Products Infiltrate Kaposi Sarcoma Tumors”
  • Krista Tuohinto
    University of Helsinki
    Helsinki, Finland
    Graduate Student
    “KSHV Hijacks SOX18 Pioneer Function to Alter Host Chromatin Architecture for Efficient Infection”
  • Paula Valiño Ramos
    Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis
    St Louis, USA
    Graduate Student
    “Single Cell Transcriptomics of HIV-Associated Kaposi Sarcoma in Kenya: a Pilot Study”
  • Maria White
    The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Chapel Hill, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Inhibition of NEK2 Promotes Chemosensitivity and Reduces KSHV-positive Primary Effusion Lymphoma Burden”
  • Dicle Yalcin
    Department of Interdisciplinary Oncology, LSU Health Sciences Center
    New Orleans, USA
    Post-Doctoral Fellow
    “Delineating the Immune Landscape of Kaposi Sarcoma using Hyperplexed Immunofluorescence at Single-Cell Resolution”
  • Wayne Yeh
    University of Southern California
    Los Angeles, USA
    Graduate Student
    “KSHV Activates the Rate-Limiting Enzyme G6PD to Promote the Pentose Phosphate Pathway and Lytic Replication”
  • Caroline Yu
    University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
    Chapel Hill, USA
    Graduate Student
    “VRK3 Promotes KSHV Infection by Suppressing the Antiviral Interferon Response”