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    Dr. Selena Sagan

    Research Focus Teams

    COVID

    Research Interests

    Molecular virology, RNA biology, hepatitis C virus, microRNAs, miR-122, Zika virus, dengue virus, RNA structure

    Departments

    Microbiology & Immunology

    Bio

    Dr. Sagan is a Professor and Co-director of the Prepare for Pandemics through Advanced Research in Evolution (PrePARE) Research Cluster (https://www.microbiology.ubc.ca/prepare) in the Department of Microbiology & Immunology at the University of British Columbia (UBC). As an undergrad at McGill University, she became fascinated by viral proteins which disrupt host antiviral responses. Dr. Sagan then obtained her Ph.D. in Biochemistry, Microbiology & Immunology at the University of Ottawa, where she focused on the development of protein- and RNA-based tools to study small-interfering RNAs (siRNAs) and interrogate target site accessibility in large, highly-structured RNAs (such as the genomes of positive-sense RNA viruses). For her postdoctoral training, she became interested in Hepatitis C virus and (mi)RNA biology as well as genome-wide approaches to study protein-RNA interactions and RNA secondary structures. In 2013, Dr. Sagan started her own independent research group at McGill University, studying positive-sense RNA viruses of the Flaviviridae family (including hepatitis C virus, dengue and Zika viruses) as well as respiratory viruses (including respiratory syncytial virus and human coronaviruses). In 2023, Dr. Sagan's research group moved to the University of British Columbia, where her research program focuses on RNA-RNA and protein-RNA interactions at the host-virus interface.

    • 2024 - 2026 President of the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV)
    • 2023 Co-Director, Prepare for Pandemics through Advanced Research in Evolution (PrePARE) Research Cluster
    • 2022 - 2024 Vice-President of the Canadian Society for Virology (CSV)
    • 2016 - 2023 Canada Research Chair (Tier II), RNA Biology and Viral Infections 2015 - 2016 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) New Investigator Award

    sagan lab

    Recent Publications

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    No Evidence of Anti-Influenza Nucleoprotein Antibodies in Retail Milk from Across Canada (April-July 2024)

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    Within-host genetic diversity of SARS-CoV-2 across animal species

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    Longitudinal Screening of Retail Milk from Canadian Provinces Reveals No Detections of Influenza A Virus RNA (April - July 2024)

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    Poly(rC)-Binding Protein 2 Does Not Directly Participate in HCV Translation or Replication, but Rather Modulates Genome Packaging.

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    Mapping respiratory syncytial virus fusion protein interactions with the receptor IGF1R and the impact of alanine-scanning mutagenesis on viral infection

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    The myriad roles of RNA structure in the flavivirus life cycle

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