I have been interested in understanding virus-host interactions throughout my career. During my post-doctoral training, I turned my focus to the study of virus infections using the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster as a model. This experience turned my attention to the importance of insects, which represent the most diverse group of multicellular organisms on earth. Insects have beneficial roles for our society such as pollination but can also be detrimental by transmitting viruses and other pathogens to humans and livestock worldwide. The goal of my laboratory is to understand mechanisms of virus-host interactions in insects that could eventually help control vector-borne diseases. We are especially interested in studying antiviral immunity in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes that are important insect vectors for viruses such as Dengue and Zika.
Our research is currently focused on two major questions:
i) How insects recognize and fight virus infections? We are currently characterizing defense mechanisms that play a role in the control of viral infection in mosquitoes. In addition, we take advantage of an important model organism, the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, to study different aspects of insect antiviral defense. We are especially interested in characterizing the antiviral role of RNA interference pathways, whereby virus-derived small RNAs associate with Argonaute proteins to silence viral gene expression.
ii) What is the diversity of viruses circulating in mosquitoes worldwide? We are interested in characterizing the collection of viruses, the virome, found in wild insects and how these may impact host biology. Our major focus is the virome of Aedes mosquitoes since these are the major vectors for viral diseases worldwide.
O Dr. João Marques possui graduação em Ciências Biológicas pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (1997), mestrado (1998) e doutorado (2002) pelo Programa de Pós-Graduação em Microbiologia do Instituto de Ciências Biológicas da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais com sua tese focada em virologia. Em seguida, o Dr. João Marques realizou pós-doutorado na Cleveland Clinic em Cleveland/OH (2002 a 2006) e na Northwestern University em Chicago/IL (2006 a 2010), ambos nos EUA, atuando em áreas de interação vírus-hospedeiro em modelos vertebrados e invertebrados. Atualmente, o Dr. João Marques é professor adjunto do Departamento de Bioquímica e Imunologia da Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais onde atua desde 2010. Seu laboratório tem como foco o estudo da interação vírus-hospedeiro em modelos invertebrados como o mosquito Aedes aegypti e a mosca Drosophila melanogaster.
