“Viral Influencers: How endogenous retroviruses regulate innate immunity and senescence”

The human genome harbors a significant number of endogenous retroviral elements, remnants of ancient viral integration events. While often referred to as “genomic fossils“ and “dark matter of the genome” many of these elements function as promoters or enhancers for cellular genes. This presentation will show how a specific subset of endogenous retroviruses is activated during infection, orchestrating the expression of genes involved antiviral immunity and cell cycle regulation.