University of Vermont - MMG - Assistant Professor

Emily Bruce, Ph.D.

Assistant Professor

Training & Education

Dr. Bruce received her M. Phil. and Ph.D. in Virology from the University of Cambridge, studying the role of the cellular Rab11 trafficking pathway in influenza virus assembly with Dr. Paul Digard. For postdoctoral research, she studied cellular factors involved in bunyavirus entry and egress with Dr. Doms at the University of Pennsylvania and also worked on cellular factors required for arenavirus infection with Dr. Botten at UVM, before joining the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics in 2021.

Research Interests

Respiratory RNA viruses (including SARS-CoV-2 and influenza) pose a severe threat to human health, and yet we have relatively few anti-viral drugs to treat either disease. My research program is focused on studying questions at the intersection of virology and cell biology, as I believe studying the fundamental properties of how these viruses interact with host cells is necessary for the development of future anti-viral therapies. I am particularly interested in the late stages of viral assembly and replication, the molecular basis of infectivity for individual virus particles/variants/individuals, and the elusive role of influenza filamentous particles.

Scanning electron micrograph showing budding of a filamentous strain of influenza A virus from the surface of 293-T cells at 16 h postinfection. Bundles of multiple filamentous virions, some more than 10 μm in length, can be seen protruding from cell surfaces.

Image credit, Emily Bruce Cover of Journal of Virology
June 15, 2010; volume 84, issue 12

Featured Publications

SARS-CoV-2 suppresses mRNA splicing, translation, and protein trafficking in a multipronged mechanism to evade host defences
Banerjee AK*, Blanco MR*, Bruce EA*, Honson DD**, Chen L**, Chow A**, Bhat P, Ollikainen N, Quinodoz SA, Loney C, Thai J, Miller ZD, Lin AE, Schmidt MM, Stewart DG, Goldfarb D, De Lorenzo G, Rihn SJ, Voorhees R, Botten JW, Majumdar D†, and Guttman M†
Cell 2020
*co-first author, **co-second author, †corresponding author

Direct RT-qPCR detection of SARS-CoV-2 RNA from patient nasopharyngeal swabs without an RNA extraction step
Bruce, EA*#, Huang, M#, Perchetti, GA, Tighe, S, Laaguiby, P, Hoffman, JJ, Gerrard, DL, Nalla, AK, Wei, Y, Greninger, AL, Diehl, SA, Shirley, DJ, Leonard, DGB, Huston, CD, Kirkpatrick, BD, Dragon, JA, Crothers, JW, Jerome, KR*†, Botten, JW *†
PLoS Biology 2020
*corresponding author, #contributed equally, †senior authors and made equivalent contributions

The major cellular sterol regulatory pathway is required for pathogenic hantavirus infection
Petersen J‡, Drake MJ‡, Bruce EA‡, Riblett AM, Didigu CA, Wilen CB, Malani N, Male F, Lee FH, Bushman FD, Cherry S, Doms RW, Bates P* , Briley K*
PLoS Pathogens 2014
‡ Co-first author

A Rab11- and microtubule-dependent mechanism for cytoplasmic transport of influenza A virus viral RNA
Amorim MJ‡, Bruce EA‡, Read EK, Foeglein A, Mahen R, Stuart AD, Digard P*
Journal of Virology 2011
‡ Co-first author

The Rab11 pathway is required for influenza A virus budding and filament formation
Bruce EA, Digard P, Stuart AD*
Journal of Virology 2010

All Bruce publications

Research Technician

Hannah Kubinski

Graduate Student

Hannah Depres

Undergraduate Student

Sara Jaffrani

Cailey Appenzeller

Allyson Turner

Contact Information

Office: Stafford 322B

Office Phone: (802) 656-9069

Lab: 322 Stafford Hall

Lab Phone: (802) 656-9070