Studying mice with a variety of viral infections, scientists at the School of Medicine have demonstrated a way to dial up the body’s innate immune defenses while simultaneously attacking a protein that many viruses rely on to replicate. The findings reveal previously unknown weapons in the body’s antiviral immune arsenal and provide guidelines for designing drugs that could be effective against a broad range of viruses.

Nobel laureate and university alumnus William E. Moerner, PhD, will present the Weissman Lecture on Nov. 5. Titled “Fun with Light and Single Molecules Opens Up an Amazing New View Inside Cells,” the lecture describes the surprising techniques he and others developed for imaging individual molecules, techniques that won him the 2014 Nobel Prize in chemistry.

Christine Souffrant is a Haitian immigrant who grew up in a family of street vendors. When she saw the devastation to that trade after a 2010 earthquake, she created a business to respond. Vendedy digitized the industry and connects global travelers with vendors. She will give an Assembly Series talk at 4 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 29, in Anheuser-Busch Hall.