Join chemistry and biochemistry professor, Dr. Trushar Patel, as he explores

How not to get viral: Understanding the communication between viruses and humans.

Thursday, March 25, 2021 - 7:00 p.m.

Event Location: COVID-19 has impacted the way we do everything, including the delivery of our events. The safety of our speakers and guests in attendance is of the utmost importance to us, and for that reason, this talk will be delivered LIVE ONLINE. You will be sent the access information prior to this event, as well as reminders up to the event.

About this talk:

Dr. Patel's goal is to obtain detailed insights into how viral nucleic acids interact with host proteins by employing interdisciplinary approaches. Information on the specific sites of host proteins that communicate with viral nucleic acids will ultimately allow the development of therapeutics that prevent host-viral communication. These interactions are essential for the survival and replication of the virus - stopping the interactions is thus of benefit for treating viral infection. Patel's research program is timely given recent global incidences of viral outbreaks and, in many cases, the lack of available treatment and the failure of currently available drugs designed to target viral components. In this PUBlic Professor Series talk, he will provide an overview of human-viral communications and discuss some of his recent work.

Trushar Patel is an emerging leader in the biophysical characterization of nucleic acids-protein and protein-protein complexes that are at the heart of viral infections. He was recruited to the University of Lethbridge in 2016 and subsequently was awarded the prestigious Canada Research Chair in 2017. In recognition of his early career success, he was promoted to Associate Professor in 2020. Before joining the University of Lethbridge, he received a distinguished Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellowship to work at the University of Birmingham (United Kingdom) and Canadian Institutes of Health Research post-doctoral fellowship to work at the University of Manitoba (Canada). Despite being at the early stage of his career, Trushar has published >70 peer-reviewed publications and several Editorial articles. He is also one of the youngest editors of the European Biophysics Journal.

In the spirit of the PUBlic Professor Series, we encourage you to prepare appetizers and pour yourself a beverage of choice. Better yet, if you are missing the catering as much as we are, you can order online with the Italian Table and pick up some of your favourite dishes! Prime Catering, the Italian Table and the Sandman Signature Lethbridge Lodge have supported our Series for many years, and as such, we are committed to supporting them during the difficult times brought on by COVID-19. As such, we have purchased several Dinner for Two gift cards from the Italian Table. These will be randomly awarded at the end of each talk. You can even use the gift cards to buy appetizers for our next talk in April!! You must be in attendance to win. So register today and mark this date in your calendar!

With special thanks to our talk sponsor:

Owen G. Holmes Lectures