Lab Members

Dr. Mothes studied chemistry (Diploma 1993) and received a Ph.D. in cell biology (Humboldt-University Berlin, 1998) for his studies on protein secretion and membrane protein integration at the endoplasmic reticulum under the mentorship of Dr. Tom Rapoport at Harvard Medical School. He worked as a postdoctoral fellow with Dr. John Young and James Cunningham on retroviral entry before he started his own laboratory at Yale University in 2001. Dr. Mothes received Tenure in 2011, was promoted to Full Professor in 2016, and became the Paul B. Beeson Professor of Medicine in 2021.

Neha Arun is a Microbiology PhD candidate and Ruth L. Kirschstein NRSA (F31) Fellow in the lab of Dr. Walther Mothes at Yale University. Her research focuses on broadly reactive strategies to eliminate the persistent reservoir of HIV-1-infected cells, which remains a major barrier to a cure. She investigates how antibodies recognizing the HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein (Env) engage Fc-receptors on innate immune cells to trigger the clearance of infected cells. By examining the molecular features that initiate Fc-effector functions across different immune cell types, her work seeks to inform therapeutic strategies that optimize viral reservoir elimination. Prior to joining Yale, Neha was a Stamps Scholar at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. She graduated summa cum laude in 2023 with a BS in Molecular & Cellular Biology, receiving Highest Distinction for her thesis, “Structural and biochemical mechanisms of HIV latency reactivation in monocytes, macrophages, and T-cells,” in the lab of Dr. Collin Kieffer. Her research is driven by a long-term commitment to developing accessible antiviral strategies by interrogating the virus-host interface.

I am very happy to join in Mothes lab. I work on projects to understand the conformational changes of HIV-1 envelope glycoprotein on the surface of virus particles by parallel cryo Electron Tomography (CryoET) and single molecule Forster Resonance Energy Transfer (smFRET).  I am also working on COVID19 research to understand the structural conformational change of spike protein of SARS-CoV-2. These projects will provide insights into not only basic science like how envelope mediates fusion of virus with host cell but also translational science aiding an vaccine and anti-retroviral therapies.

Dr. Pradeep Uchil is Associate Professor in the Department of Microbial Pathogenesis at Yale University. He received his PhD in Molecular Virology at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India, where he elucidated the architecture of flavivirus replication complexes. He completed his postdoctoral studies at Yale University with Prof. Walther Mothes in Retrovirus Cell Biology and Innate Immunity. Dr. Uchil studies how viruses replicate, spread, and interact with hosts to cause disease using mouse infection models. He has expertise in innate immunity, viral immunology, and elucidating virus-host interactions using imaging-based approaches that span multiple scales of resolution from the whole body to the ultrastructure. Specifically, he utilizes noninvasive whole-body bioluminescence imaging (BLI) as an unbiased guide for the identification and in-depth characterization of key tissues and physiologically relevant cell types that contribute to virus spread, pathogenesis, and immune control. He is well recognized for his expertise in imaging and its application to uncover both fundamental and translational aspects of virus infection in mouse models.