Biography
Brigitte E Martin, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center (UMMC) in Jackson, Mississippi. Her long-term research interests focus on studying viral infection dynamics, emphasizing both virus and host responses to enhance disease diagnostics and prognostics. She has extensive academic training and research experience in virology encompass multiple disciplines, including molecular biology, cellular biology, immunology, and epidemiology.
As a PhD candidate in Veterinary Medical Science, she received training from Dr. Xiu-Feng (Henry) Wan in molecular biology techniques used to study the influenza virus and embarked on influenza-focused research. Her dissertation centered on developing and applying a novel methodology for the antigenic characterization of influenza, utilizing polyclonal antibodies for proximity ligation assays.
Dr. Martin’s postdoctoral training at the University of Illinois under Dr. Christopher Brooke involved developing and publishing molecular and cellular biology techniques to determine the outcome of influenza infection with varying numbers of virions per infected cell, considering both the presence and absence of the host antiviral immune response. As a former T32 postdoctoral fellow at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, she further explored the implications of viral infection at the organismal level, with a particular focus on cardiovascular physiology.
Currently, Dr. Martin’s research bridges her previous work in cardiovascular physiology and viral pathogenesis, investigating changes in cardiac function, biomarkers, and viral genomic heterogeneity from the onset of influenza infection to recovery.