A Morgrdige Institute and UW–Madison collaboration published cryo-electron microscopy structures of the complete bacterial DNA replication restart complex — a molecular machine that lets bacteria survive antibiotic attack — and found an unexpected architectural link to the protein that fires up replication from scratch, a discovery that hands drug designers the first atomic-resolution blueprint for disabling a key bacterial survival mechanism.
Category: Virology
Congratulations to our 2026 graduates
More than 20 members of the Morgridge Institute community graduated with degrees from University of Wisconsin–Madison this year. A few reflect on their time at Morgridge and shout out their mentors. We wish all the 2026 grads the best of luck on their journeys ahead!
Morgridge supporters experience a ‘Night in the Lab,’ Rowe Center edition
Dozens of donors and their guests gathered at the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology on April 30 to get a hands-on, up-close look at Morgridge Institute science.
Megan Spurgeon: How a mild-mannered virus becomes a cancer culprit
Merkel cell carcinoma is the most recently discovered example of a cancer triggered by exposure to a virus. Morgridge Investigator Megan Spurgeon discusses how this rare and deadly form of skin cancer has become a major focal point of her research.
In just 17 amino acids, a master regulator of viral genome replication
New research out of the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology at Morgridge reveals a starring role for a short, 17 amino acid sequence in viral replication. The results will likely ramify across an enormous class of viruses with related replication machinery.