Tanya Miura

Research interests: Regulation of the Immune Response to Coronavirus Infection in the Lung.

While earning a B.A. degree in Zoology at The University of Montana, I worked in a research lab studying the movement and detection of viruses in water systems. I conducted my graduate work at Colorado State University, where I used molecular technologies to inhibit replication of mosquito-borne viruses. After obtaining my Ph.D., I was a postdoctoral researcher at National Jewish Hospital in Denver, where I studied immune-mediated killing of tumor cells that express viral tumor antigens. I held a second postdoctoral position at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, where I began studying the pathogenesis of coronavirus infections. I have continued this research at the University of Idaho.

• J.P. Rzepka, A.K. Haick, and T.A. Miura. Type I alveolar epithelial cells direct recruitment and regulate apoptosis of neutrophils during rat coronavirus infection. American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology, In revision.
• C.J. Funk, R. Manzer, T.A. Miura, S.D. Groshong, Y. Ito, E. Travanty, J. Leete, K.V. Holmes, and R.J. Mason. 2009. Rat respiratory coronavirus infection: Replication in airway and alveolar epithelial cells and innate immune response. Journal of General Virology 90:2956-2964.
• T.A. Miura and K.V. Holmes. 2009. Host-pathogen interactions during coronavirus infection of primary alveolar epithelial cells. Journal of Leukocyte Biology 86:1145-1151.
• E.C. Mossel, J. Wang, S. Jeffers, K.E. Edeen, S. Wang, G.P. Cosgrove, C.J. Funk, R. Manzer, T.A. Miura, L.D. Pearson, K.V. Holmes, and R.J. Mason.  2008. SARS-CoV replicates in primary human alveolar type II cell cultures but not in type I-like cells. Virology 372:127-135.
• T.A. Miura, E. Travanty, L. Oko, H. Bielefeldt-Ohmann, S.R. Weiss, N. Beauchemin, and K.V. Holmes. 2008. The spike glycoprotein of murine coronavirus MHV-JHM mediates receptor-independent infection and spread in the central nervous systems of Ceacam1a-/- Mice. Journal of Virology 82:755-763.
• T.A. Miura, J. Wang, K.V. Holmes, and R.J. Mason. 2007. Rat coronaviruses infect rat alveolar type I epithelial cells and induce expression of CXC chemokines. Virology 369:288-298.

• The role of neutrophils during viral infection of the lung:
  Using rat coronavirus as a model for respiratory viral pathogenesis, we are combining data from in vivo and in vitro models to understand how neutrophils contribute to viral clearance and/or lung pathology.  We are also identifying the interactions between virus-infected lung epithelial cells and neutrophils that orchestrate neutrophil functions.
• Detection of viruses by alveolar epithelial cells:
  Infection of the epithelial cells that line the gas exchange units of the lung by viruses is associated with severe disease pathology.  We are identifying the mechanisms whereby these epithelial cells detect viral infection, resulting in induction of an inflammatory response.

• Della McShane Fellowship in Medicine, National Jewish Medical and Research Center (2000-2001)
• Ferd O. Lawson Fellowship in Clinical Immunology, National Jewish Medical and Research Center (2001-2002)
• Great West Life Assurance Fellowship, National Jewish Medical and Research Center (2002-2003)
• Student Employee Supervisor of the Year Nominee, University of Idaho (2009-2010)