Nathalie Lavoie

Research/Areas of Interest

Nuclear egress - a process by which herpesviral capsids translocate from the nucleus to the cytoplasm - is essential for viral replication and pathogenesis. The Nuclear Egress Complex (NEC) is a complex of two viral proteins that is the key player in the process. We know that the NEC deforms the nuclear membrane around the viral capsid by oligomerizing into a honeycomb coat. But, the mechanism of this event is unclear, partly because we lack the tools to observe NEC oligomerization. The goal of my work is to develop tools to observe NEC oligomerization and to measure the dynamic behavior of the NEC during membrane deformation.