Peter Kasson

We use computational and experimental methods together to understand when, where, and how enveloped viruses can infect.  We also infer design principles from these viruses to design new technologies to query cellular state.

Active areas of research include:
Developing and applying platforms to measure single-virus entry.   We use optical microscopy to observe individual viral entry events, in combination with either natural or artificial receptors.  This work has allowed us to better understand the host-receptor requirements of viruses like SARS-CoV-2 and influenza.  We seek to understand what factors permit them to adapt to new hosts or cellular niches and how this might be combatted.  We are also designing new platforms for highly parallel measurements of viral entry and real-time detection of single viral genomes.

Understanding and repurposing viral fusion peptides.  Enveloped viruses insert short peptides into cellular membranes that sense the local environment and act to promote viral entry.  We want to understand the physical roles and requirements of these peptides but also to re-engineer them as probes for cellular function.

Inferring structural and dynamic molecular ensembles via simulation and experiment.  We also develop machine-learning approaches to combine experimental and simulation data to understand flexible protein structure, dynamics, and function.

Teaching interests.
Teaching interests include physical chemistry, statistical mechanics and molecular kinetics, systems bioengineering, and machine learning for biology.