Nels C. Elde, Ph.D.

Research

The Elde lab studies the evolution of conflict. Host-pathogen interactions are hotspots of genetic conflict and battlefronts for influence over host functions. Infections strongly influence fitness of both pathogens and hosts, which can drive some of the most dramatic adaptations observed in nature. The team’s research uses host-pathogen interfaces as model systems for studying evolution and is specifically interested in the many cases where pathogens deploy factors that influence essential cellular processes, such as membrane trafficking pathways. In doing so, they determine how pathogens affect the regulation and complexity of cell functions by combining evolutionary analysis and cell biology.

2024 Innovation Fund

As a 2024 Innovation Fund investigator, Nels Elde, Ph.D., is teaming up with Michael Kuhns, Ph.D., to study the functional consequences of interspecies differences in the structure of immunoglobulin (Ig) domains, key building blocks for proteins that mediate immunity. After computationally reconstructing the evolutionary history of the T-cell protein CD4, the team found that the protein’s Ig-domain structures are different in fish versus mammals. They hypothesize that these structural differences have consequences for core T-cell functions. To test this hypothesis, the Elde lab will generate transgenic zebra fish expressing fish CD4 with Ig domains resembling those of mice, while the Kuhns lab will generate mouse T-cell hybridoma cell lines expressing mouse CD4 with Ig domains resembling those of fish. Both labs will perform expression and functional analyses to understand how these Ig domain changes influence function. Ultimately, the pair aims to better understand immune system function by comparing key differences between species. 

2019 Innovation Fund

As a 2019 Innovation Fund investigator, Elde’s lab collaborated with the lab of Wesley Sundquist, Ph.D., to combine an expertise in virology and biochemistry with that of evolutionary and cell biology. The team assessed whether retroCHMP3, a protein that can block viral infections in certain species of monkeys and mice, can have the same effect when introduced into other animals. This work has the potential to provide agricultural and domestic animals with resistance to a broad spectrum of viral infections.