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Assistant Professor of Biology Efraín Rivera-Serrano and undergraduate researchers Ryder Hutchinson ’28 and Alex Roberts ’27 received travel awards from the American Society for Virology to attend and present their research at the organization’s 2026 annual meeting in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The Rivera-Serrano Lab’s latest student-led publication, published in Viral Immunology, examines how genetically distinct reoviruses behave across different epithelial cancer cell models.

The article, published in Virus Genes, shares findings from a two-year undergraduate research project led by Charlotte Dagli ’25 that identified viruses with enhanced oncolytic potential, or the ability to selectively infect and kill cancer cells, against fibrosarcoma.

The Rivera-Serrano lab in the Biology Department attended the 18th annual Southeastern Regional Virology Conference (SERVC), held April 24–26 in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference brought together virology researchers and trainees from across the region to share new findings, build professional connections and discuss advances in the study of viruses and viral diseases.

Biology major Charlotte Dagli '25 and her mentor, biology faculty Efrain Rivera-Serrano, presented their research at the Annual Meeting of the American Association of Immunologists in Honolulu, Hawaii. Their work aims at better understanding the anticancer properties of some viruses, and integrating that knowledge into the classroom.