Biography
Dr. Ramona Moles is an Assistant Professor in the Center for Immunology and Microbial Research (CIMR) at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. Dr. Moles's research laboratory aims to understand innate immunity's role in persistent infection and viral oncogenesis.
Dr. Moles received her Ph.D. at the University of Kansas, where she studied the oncogenic retrovirus HTLV-1. Her research focused on microRNAs and DNA repair dysregulation involved in HTLV-1 pathogenesis. Dr. Moles showed that targeting the DNA repair machinery represents a promising therapeutic strategy for HTLV-1 patients.
After completing her Ph.D. in Pathology, Dr. Moles continued her research at the National Cancer Institute (NCI, NIH), investigating the immunological responses against HTLV-1 in vitro and in vivo. The Center for Cancer Research awarded Dr. Moles's work twice with the Federal Technology Transfer Award for characterizing early immunological responses against HTLV-1 infection. This knowledge is crucial to developing an HTLV-1 vaccine.
