I obtained my BSc and PhD from the University of Alberta. During my PhD, I studied how respiratory syncytial virus enters cells, and I identified insulin-like growth factor-1 receptor as a new host cell surface receptor for the virus. I completed my postdoctoral training at the University of Virginia, where I used systems biology to define three ways human hearts respond to viral infection and functionally tested the relationships among them. In 2026, I started my lab at Miami University, where I combine computational systems biology and experimental molecular biology to investigate how human gene regulatory landscapes impact susceptibility and responses to respiratory viral infection.
Education
Ph.D. Virology, University of Alberta (2020)
B.Sc. Honours Immunology and Infection, University of Alberta (2013)
Research Interests
How children with asthma respond to rhinovirus infection: Rhinovirus often infects children without causing symptoms. We are examining how children with and without asthma respond to these subclinical infections through clinical collaboration, data mining, and laboratory experiments.
Differences in respiratory epithelial cell susceptibility to infection: Not everyone is equally susceptible to respiratory virus infection. We also observe similar variability in susceptibility directly in respiratory epithelial cells. We are testing what makes someone (or their cells) more or less susceptible to infection.
Selected Publications
Teague W.G., Noth A., Lynch A., Stein A., Morgul A., Offerle T., Wavell K., Baldwin K., Wall B., Cox H., Elward M., Trask M., Spano M., Etter E., Aunins B., Brand W., Greenwell A., Jackson D., Early S., Middleton J., McKinney C., †Griffiths C., and †Borish L. Black Race Adjusted for Social and Environmental Disparities Is the Principal Determinant of T2HIGH Inflammation in Children with Severe Asthma. J Allergy Clin Immunol Pract. 2026, In Press
Offerle T., Teague W.G., Spano M., Etter E., Stein A., Wavell K., Baldwin K., †Griffiths C., and †Borish L. Rhinovirus-Infected Preschool Children with Problematic Wheeze Have Lung Eosinophilic Inflammation. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2026, In Press
*Griffiths C., *Sweatt A., and Janes K. Systems Virology at Scale. Curr Opin Syst Biol. 2025. Dec; 42:100562
Griffiths C., Shah M., Shao W., Borgman C., and Janes K. Three Modes of Viral Adaptation by the Heart. Sci Adv. 2024, Nov 15;10(46): eadp6303
Sweatt A., Griffiths C., Groves S., Paudel B., Wang L., Kashatus D., Janes K. Proteome-wide copy-number estimation from transcriptomics. Mol Syst Biol. 2024 Nov;20(11): 1230-1256
Teague W.G., Griffiths C., Boyd K., Kellems S., Lawrence M., Offerle T., Heymann P., Brand W., Greenwell A., Middleton J., Wavell K., Payne J., Spano M., Etter E., Wall B., and Borish L. A Novel Syndrome of Silent Rhinovirus-associated Bronchoalveolitis in Children with Recurrent Wheeze. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2024, 154(3): 571-579.e6
*Griffiths C., *Sweatt A., and Janes K. Simulating Coxsackievirus B3 infection with an accessible computational model of its complete kinetics. STAR Protoc. 2021, 2(4): 100940
*Griffiths C., *Bilawchuk L., McDonough J., Jamieson K., Elawar F., Cen Y., Duan W., Lin C., Song H., Casanova J.L., Ogg S., Jensen L., Thienpont B., Kumar A., Hobman T., Proud D., Moraes T., and Marchant D. IGF1R is an entry receptor for respiratory syncytial virus. Nature. 2020, 583: 615–619
*Elawar F., *Griffiths C., *Zhu D., Bilawchuk L., Jensen L., Forss L., Tang J., Hazes B., Drews S., and Marchant D. A Virological and Phylogenetic Analysis of the Emergence of New Clades of Respiratory Syncytial Virus. Sci Rep. 2017, 7(1): 12232
*Bilawchuk L., *Griffiths C., Jensen L., Elawar F., and Marchant D. The Susceptibilities of Respiratory Syncytial Virus to Nucleolin Receptor Blocking and Antibody Neutralization Depends on the Method of Virus Purification. Viruses. 2017, 9(8): 207
Griffiths C., Drews S., and Marchant D. Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Infection, Detection, and New Options for Prevention and Treatment. Clin. Microbiol. Rev. 2017, 30(1): 277-319
*Indicates co-first author; †indicates co-senior author *denotes Miami University graduate student, ** denotes Miami University undergraduate student
