Microbiology, Immunology, and Pathology

​​​​​​​​The Carol Wilusz laboratory studies the regulation of mRNA metabolism in eukaryotic cells. Current projects are focused on characterizing decay of a toxic RNA in myotonic dystrophy and investigating how post-transcriptional modification of mRNA influences gene expression in stem and cancer cells.  Carol Wilusz is the founder and director of the Molecular Quantification Core at Colorado State University, which provides state-of-the-art instrumentation to detect and quantify nucleic acids and proteins with unprecedented accuracy and sensitivity.

Carol Wilusz serves as the director of the Cell & Molecular Biology Graduate program at Colorado State University, in addition to teaching in the program.

COVID-19 Wastewater Testing

Since May 2020 the Carol Wilusz Lab and the Molecular Quantification Core have focused their efforts on developing and deploying a digital PCR-based assay to detect SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater. The assay was developed over the summer of 2020 with help from local company, GT Molecular, City of Fort Collins wastewater treatment plants, and CSU Associate Professor of Civil & Environmental Engineering Susan De Long.  The lab now receives over 4L of sewage a week from all over the CSU campus and from wastewater treatment plants up and down the Colorado Front Range. The lab concentrates the samples, extracts RNA and quantifies SARS-CoV-2 virus, providing results to the CSU Pandemic Preparedness Team and the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment within 24 hours.  Levels of SARS-CoV-2 in wastewater can provide a means to detect increased levels of infection early and inform public health decisions.  This is a big change from the normal focus of the laboratory but we are proud that the data we generate helps monitor infection rates and keep our communities safe.  You can view our data on the Colorado COVID-19 Wastewater Dashboard.