Robin Morgan

Department of Animal and Food Sciences

Robin Morgan

Provost and Professor Molecular Biology
 302-831-4296

Office location:
Office of the Provost
Hullihen Hall
Newark, DE 19716

Education

  • Ph.D. Biology, Johns Hopkins University, 1982
  • B.S. Biology, Meredith College, 1977

Research

Our interests center on the molecular biology of Marek’s disease virus, a herpesvirus that causes infectious T-cell lymphomas in chickens. Specific research projects include understanding the molecular mechanisms that lead to transformation of T-cells by Marek’s disease virus, examining the immunological responses that result in vaccine- induced protection from lymphoma formation, and developing vaccines to control Marek’s disease.  Microarray technology is being used to understand host responses to infection.

Professional activities

  • Board of Directors, University of Delaware Technology Corporation, 2007-present
  • Board of Directors, Delmarva Poultry Industry, Inc., 2001-present
  • Board of Trustees, Longwood Gardens, 2005-present
  • Council of Farm Organizations, 2001-present
  • Panel Member, Animal Health and Well-Being Virology Panel, USDA-NRICGP, 1993, 1994, 1997 (Manager), 2001
  • Phi Kappa Phi
  • Member of the American Society for Virology, 1985-2004
  • Member of the American Society for Microbiology, 1985-2004
  • Member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science
  • Associate Member of the American Association of Avian Pathologists

Waidner, L., R. Morgan, A. Anderson, E. Bernberg, S. Kamboj, M. Garcia, S. Riblet, M. Ouyang, G. Isaacs, M. Markis, B. Meyers, P. Green, and J. Burnside. Novel ILTV and HVT microRNAs have conserved genomic locations with those of other Gallid and Meleagrid herpesvirus microRNAs. 2009. Virology under review.

Morgan, R., A. Anderson, E. Bernberg, S. Kamboj, E. Huang, G. Lagasse, G. Isaacs, M. Parcells, B. C. Meyers, P. J. Green, and J. Burnside. 2008. Sequence conservation and differential expression of Marek’s disease virus microRNAs. J. Virology 82:12213‐12220.

Burnside, J., M. Ouyang, A. Anderson, E. Bernberg, C. Lu, B. C. Meyers, P. J. Green, M. Markis, G. K. Isaacs, E. Huang, and R. W. Morgan (2008) Deep sequencing of chicken microRNAs. BMC Genomics 9:185.

Niikura, Masahiro, T. Kim, H. D. Hunt, J. Burnside, R. W. Morgan, J. D. Dodgson, and H. Cheng (2007) Marek’s disease virus up-regulates major histocompatibility complx class II cell surface expression in infected cells. Virology 359: 212-219.

Carre, W., X. Wang, T.E. Porter, Y. Nys, J. Tang, E.L. Bernberg, R.W. Morgan, J. Burnside, S.E. Aggrey, J. Simon, and L.A. Cogburn. 2006. Chicken genomics resource: sequencing and annotation of 35,407 ESTs fron single and multiple tissue cDNA libraries and CAP3 assembly of a chicken gene index. Physiological Genomics 25:514-524.

Burnside, Joan, E. Bernberg, A. Anderson, C. Lu, B. Meyers, P. Green, N. Jain, G. Isaacs, and R. Morgan (2006) Marek’s disease virus encodes microRNAs that map to meq and the latency-associated transcript. Journal of Virology 80:8778-8786.

Lupiani, Blanca, Lee, Lucy F., Cui, Xiaoping, Gimeno, Isabel, Anderson, Amy, Morgan, Robin W., Silva, Robert F., Witter, Richard L., Kung, Hsing-Jien, and Sanjay M. Reddy (2004) Marek’s disease virus-encoded Meq gene is involved in transformation of lymphocytes but is dispensable for replication. Proc. Natl. Acad. Science (USA) 101: 11815-11820.