Andrea D Branch | Mount Sinai

About Me

Andrea Branch, PhD, is a Professor in the Department of Medicine, Division of Liver Diseases. The Branch Lab is interested in studying viral hepatitis using both basic and translation research approaches.

Language

English

Position

PROFESSOR | Medicine, Liver Diseases, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR | Surgery

Research Topics

Antivirals, Bioinformatics, Cancer, Gene Regulation, Hepatitis C Virus, Interferon Resistance, Liver, RNA, Viruses and Virology

Multi-Disciplinary Training Areas

Genetics and Genomic Sciences [GGS], Immunology [IMM]

Education

BS, The University of Michigan

MS, The University of California

PhD, The Rockefeller University

, The Rockefeller University

Awards

1976

Rockefeller University Graduate Fellowship

1975

Steinhaus Memorial Teaching Award

1973

Public Health Service Traineeship

Research

In experimental systems, we previously discovered a new family of HCV core protein isoforms called minicores (Eng et al., JVI, 2009) that lack the N-terminus of p21 core. We have recently found that HCV minicores are released into patients’ blood. Additionally, cells cultured in human serum secrete large quantities of minicores through a process that is not dependent on infectious virion production. The low density of secreted minicores indicates that they may be part of lipoviroparticles. Experiments are underway to investigate the biological effects of secreted minicores.