Dr. Gale is the Director of the Center for Innate Immunity and Immune Disease (CIIID) and is an Adjunct professor of Global Health. He is a professor of Immunology, and is a formally trained immunologist and virologist with expertise in studies of virus/host interactions, innate immunity, and immune signaling of RNA viruses. His research is focused on understanding the innate immune response to infection by emerging RNA viruses, including Zika virus,  and leveraging this information to build improved vaccines, vaccine adjuvants, and antiviral therapeutics. Dr. Gale is currently developing and testing two novel vaccines for protection against Zika virus, and is developing a new class of innate immune-targeted antiviral drugs for broad spectrum application to enhance vaccine immunity and to treat virus infection. These new therapeutics will improve global health by providing effective treatment to the people infected with Zika virus, Ebola virus, dengue virus, or West Nile viruses.

Elyse graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a BS in Biological Science and joined the Gale Lab in 2015. While in the Gale Lab, Elyse has been a part of a collaborative research team that is working to determine how the immune system responds to Zika virus infection. Elyse is currently working with Dr. Gale to manage the day to day operations within the lab and helps support the ongoing research within.

Dr. Go works with Professor Gale to lead collaborative, multidisciplinary studies of Zika virus infection. She received her Bachelor’s degree from Illinois Wesleyan University and her PhD from the University of Illinois at Chicago. Her research is dedicated to studying emerging viruses, with a particular emphasis on pandemic H1N1 influenza viruses and Zika virus-mediated disease and regulation of immune responses. Dr. Go integrates principles of systems biology to define virus-host interactions that would ultimately help identify therapeutic targets for improved clinical outcomes. She also maintains an active interest in science education in the community where she is engaged in student science research mentoring programs.

Dr. Davis earned his PhD in Cancer Biology with an emphasis in Cell and Molecular Biology from Vanderbilt University in 2005. He has worked on a wide array of projects involving the generation of transgenic mice, state of the art microscopy, early detection cancer biomarkers, and CRISPR-based gene knockout. This work enabled him to develop an extremely diverse knowledge set and tool box with which he has quickly tackled new questions. In 2013 Dr. Davis joined the Gale lab in order to further expand his training into the field of innate immunity with a focus on cellular events surronding inflammasome activation and with intention of moving into the dynamic area of tumor immunology. Excitingly, last year, his training in microscopy allowed him the opportunity to begin exploring maternal to fetal transmission of Zika Virus with Kristina Adams-Waldorf in order to prevent the devastating birth defects associated with infection of pregnant women.

Roni Farkash
Research Scientist

Zack Lindbloom-Brown
Senior Computer Specialist - IT