The QBI & Gladstone Institutes Infectious Disease and Human Health Seminar Series presents Dr. Mary Estes, Distinguished Service Professor in the Departments of Molecular Virology and Microbiology and Medicine at Baylor College of Medicine.

Dr. Estes received her Ph.D. in microbiology and immunology from the University of North Carolina with Joseph Pagano, M.D., followed by postdoctoral training in molecular virology and epidemiology at Baylor College of Medicine with Janet Butel. Dr. Estes is the emeritus founding director of a NIH-funded Digestive Diseases Center, which supports collaborative research across multiple institutions in the Texas Medical Center. Her research focuses on viral infections of the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. She and her lab use multidisciplinary approaches to probe the structure and molecular biology of GI viruses to understand basic mechanisms that control virus replication, morphogenesis, virus-host interactions, and pathogenesis.

She pioneered use of stem-cell derived human intestinal organoid cultures (mini-guts) for studies of host-pathogen-microbiome interactions and to understand GI physiology and pathophysiology. She has developed virus-like particle vaccines for gastroenteritis viruses (rotaviruses and noroviruses) and discovered new mechanisms of pathogenesis now being targeted for drug discovery. Various honors recognize her work, such as service on National Institutes of Health, World Health Organization, and American Gastroenterology Association (AGA) review groups and committees; prior service as president of the American Society for Virology, election to the National Academy of Medicine, the National Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Inventors; an AGA Lifetime Achievement Award; an AGA William Beaumont Prize in Gastroenterology; an AGA Distinguished Mentor Award; an ASM Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Art Beaudet Mentoring Award from Baylor College of Medicine.

Talk Title: Mini-Guts: Avatars to Understand Human Intestinal Health and Disease

Host: Marta Calvet Mirabent