Emily Bruce

Emily Bruce
Occupation	Virologist, academic
Known for	Research on influenza A virus trafficking and SARS-CoV-2 host response
Alma mater	Vassar College; University of Cambridge

Emily Bruce is a virologist and Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont. Her research addresses the molecular biology of RNA viruses, including influenza A virus and SARS-CoV-2.

Education

Bruce received a B.A. in Biochemistry from Vassar College in 2007. She then studied at the University of Cambridge, earning an M.Phil in Virology in 2008 and a PhD in Virology in 2012.

Career

Bruce trained at the University of Pennsylvania, where she completed a postdoctoral position in the Doms lab in the Department of Microbiology from 2012 to 2014. She subsequently moved to the University of Vermont Medical Center, working as a postdoctoral researcher in the Botten lab in the Department of Medicine from 2014 to 2018. From 2018 to 2021, she was a Faculty Scientist in the Department of Medicine at the University of Vermont. In 2021, she became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics at the University of Vermont.

Research

Bruce's published work spans 58 papers with a combined total of 2,561 citations and an h-index of 24, according to Semantic Scholar. Her early research examined the Rab11 pathway in the intracellular transport and budding of influenza A virus, including studies on Rab11- and microtubule-dependent trafficking of viral RNA and Rab11's role in viral filament formation. She has also studied the cellular sterol regulatory pathway in Andes virus infection.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Bruce contributed to research on SARS-CoV-2, including a study on how the virus disrupts host splicing, translation, and protein trafficking to suppress host defenses, published in Cell and cited 527 times. She also contributed to work on masitinib as a broad coronavirus 3CL protease inhibitor published in Science, a study on the role of Fc function in neutralizing antibody efficacy against SARS-CoV-2 published in Immunity, research on intestinal host response and gastrointestinal outcomes in COVID-19 patients published in Gastroenterology, and a direct RT-qPCR method for detecting SARS-CoV-2 RNA from nasopharyngeal swabs without an RNA extraction step, published in PLoS Biology.

Bruce has received funding from the National Institutes of Health for research on RNA viruses of pandemic potential and viral infectivity, and for a project examining the formation of a novel SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid dimer and its impacts on viral and cellular processes, administered through the University of Vermont and State Agricultural College. Her NIH-funded projects total $1,313,024 across seven awards.

Selected publications

• "SARS-CoV-2 Disrupts Splicing, Translation, and Protein Trafficking to Suppress Host Defenses" (2020), Cell
• "A Rab11- and Microtubule-Dependent Mechanism for Cytoplasmic Transport of Influenza A Virus Viral RNA" (2011), Journal of Virology
• "The Rab11 Pathway Is Required for Influenza A Virus Budding and Filament Formation" (2010), Journal of Virology
• "Masitinib is a broad coronavirus 3CL inhibitor that effectively blocks replication of SARS-CoV-2" (2021), Science
• "Live imaging of SARS-CoV-2 infection in mice reveals that neutralizing antibodies require Fc function for optimal efficacy" (2021), Immunity
• "Direct RT-qPCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from patient nasopharyngeal swabs without an RNA extraction step" (2020), PLoS Biology
• "Intestinal Host Response to SARS-CoV-2 Infection and COVID-19 Outcomes in Patients With Gastrointestinal Symptoms" (2021), Gastroenterology
• "The Major Cellular Sterol Regulatory Pathway Is Required for Andes Virus Infection" (2014), PLoS Pathogens

External links

• ORCID profile