UA's Felicia Goodrum earns Presidential award for work on widespread “hidden” virus

The White House announced July 9, 2009 that a University of Arizona (UA) researcher won a top national honor for her work on a potentially deadly virus that affects the majority of people on Earth.

Felicia Goodrum—the only Arizona-based recipient of the award—received the Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers, the highest honor bestowed by the United States government on young professionals in the early stages of their independent research careers. Dr. Goodrum is an assistant professor in the Department of Immunobiology in the College of Medicine and the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology in the College of Science. She is a member of the BIO5 Institute and Arizona Cancer Center.

PECASE winners will receive up to a five-year research grant, and will be honored later this year at a White House ceremony.

Goodrum was among 100 young researchers and engineers receiving the award. She is one of only 12 nominated by the National Institutes of Health.

While unsure yet of the details of the award, Goodrum said, “It’s very exciting to be going to the White House and meet President Barack Obama.”

Goodrum, 39, who has been doing research at the UA for three years, is looking at how human cytomegalovirus, or HCMV, survives in the body in a latent state.

The virus is found in about 60 percent of people in the United States and up to 99 percent of people living in less-developed nations, she said.

The virus can prove lethal for people with immune system problems or who have had transplant surgeries, she said.

“The immune system is constantly suppressing the virus. People undergoing a transplant or cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy do not have immune systems as active as normal,” she said.

Unlike many viruses, like colds and the flu that have a short lifespan, HCMV can exist throughout the life of its host.

She is studying the viral co-existence, or the molecular interactions going on that allow the virus to survive.

To date three proteins have been discovered that Goodrum believes are working together to establish the virus’ latency.

“We have identified some novel proteins we know the virus is making,” she said. “These proteins are letting the virus persist. These proteins will allow us to look at the mechanism behind that.”

The ultimate goal is to develop a therapy to kill the virus, even while hidden in its latent, inactive state, she said.

“I hope this will lead to an antiviral that is far more effective for the people who need it,” Goodrum said.

The PECASE program was launched in 1996 to recognize and nurture some of the finest scientists and engineers who during their early research careers show exceptional potential for leadership at the frontiers of scientific knowledge.

“These extraordinarily gifted young scientists and engineers represent the best in our country,” President Barack Obama said. “I am confident that they will lead their fields in new breakthroughs and discoveries and help us use science and technology to lift our nation and the world.”