Welcome to the Laboratory of Karla Kirkegaard, Ph.D.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Stanford University School of Medicine
Stanford, California

We study the genetics, immunology, cell biology, and biochemistry of positive-strand RNA virus propagation.

For many subcellular viruses and parasites, RNA, not DNA, is the carrier of genetic information. This has several interesting consequences for the genetics and biology of the virus. Poliovirus serves as a model to increase our understanding of positive-strand RNA viruses for which no vaccine is available and which remain a significant health hazard: examples include other picornaviruses -- rhinoviruses, coxsackieviruses, and echoviruses -- as well as more distantly related positive-strand RNA viruses such as hepatitis C virus, dengue virus, and West Nile virus.

We invite you to explore this site to learn about us and our research.