Heading up the Gousset Lab, Dr. Karine Gousset (biology) uses a variety of techniques to find the underlying mechanisms behind disease transference.

An immune system is constantly on surveillance for invaders, but the connectivity between cells can actually make it possible for a virus to evade detection. Tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), thought to be involved in cell-to-cell communication, may be key to this, according to Dr. Gousset's research.

Essentially, a virus can use TNTs to exploit the cellular communication system and spread.

Under the auspices of a substantial NIH SCORE SC2 award, Dr. Gousset developed an innovative method to identify the proteome of TNTs. The method uses a combination of a novel TNT fixation method, laser capture microdissection, and microproteomics to identify the TNT proteome.

See her research interests.