The Taylor Lab is interested in the intercellular spread of neuroinvasive viruses and how spread impacts pathogen evolution and pathogenesis. Neuroinvasive viruses, including Herpes Simplex virus and West Nile virus, preferentially infect the cells of the nervous system, transmitting viral particles between neurons. Using these connections, viral infection invades the central nervous system resulting in severe disease and death. We study the events of virion transmission within neurons utilizing live-cell imaging of primary neuronal cultures to capture the events of virion transport, egress and infection
