On Thursday, August 21, 2025, Paige Richards successfully defended her PhD thesis, "On the Surface: Defining Ebola Virus Trafficking and Tropism in the Skin." This major achievement in her academic career was celebrated with her mentor, Wendy Maury, PhD.
Research
Ebola virus (EBOV) remains as one of the WHO’s top ten threats to global health as it causes severe human disease with mortality rates ranging from 25–90%. While transmission is typically thought to occur by direct contact with bodily fluids, the role of skin to EBOV pathogenesis and transmission remains poorly defined.
During the 2014–2016 West Africa outbreak, anecdotal reports linked numerous cases to participation in traditional funerals, suggesting the possibility that EBOV may persist on or within the skin even after death. Further, infectious EBOV virions can be found on the surface of skin late in infection and may be transmitted to others through skin-to-skin contact. My work focuses on the role of skin as a site of EBOV infection, replication, and potential shedding.
Skin is the body’s largest organ and functions as a physical barrier to protect against pathogens and harmful environmental factors. The skin consists of the epidermis (the top layer) and the dermis (the bottom layer) which each having distinct cells that help maintain or surveil for pathogens. Additionally, skin has unique architecture like hair follicles and sebaceous glands. To study the role of skin in EBOV infection, I used two distinct models: human skin explants and animal models.
Human skin explants were generated by taking biopsies from healthy human donors primarily undergoing breast reductions. Using these, my work demonstrates EBOV can infect both tissue layers with detectable virus present on the surface of the epidermis, suggesting that skin may serve as an unrecognized source of person-to-person transmission. These findings were recapitulated in non-human primates and mouse models of infection. Additionally, animal models revealed patterns of focal viral localization within dermal layers —supporting nonuniform spread —and around hair follicles.
Together, these findings establish the skin as a dynamic and underappreciated interface for EBOV transmission, replication, and immune activation. This work highlights novel pathways of EBOV surface shedding and viral entry with direct implications for transmission risk and drug development.
Background
Paige was born in Trenton, New Jersey, as the oldest of three children to George and Susan Richards. She grew up in Pennsylvania outside of Philadelphia and attended Pennsbury High School, graduating in 2015. Her curiosity about the microbial world began in middle school when she learned how bacteriophages infect bacteria. The idea that something “not alive” (depending on which virologist you ask) could hijack a cell, turn it into a virus factory, and burst it open captured her imagination—and never let go.
Paige attended Rowan University, earning degrees in Biological Sciences (B.S.) and Music (B.A.) with a minor in Chemistry. She began her research career in Dr. Claude Krummenacher’s lab studying herpes simplex virus (HSV) entry. Determined to join his lab from day one, she was surprised to learn she first had to take cell biology. Undeterred, she took his class the very next year, secured her spot, and happily stayed for three years. She later participated in the NSF-REU at the University of Iowa in Dr. Richard Roller’s lab, studying HSV egress. Those ten weeks proved transformative—she arrived with plenty of passion but limited technical chops, and left with her graduate school ambitions firmly cemented. Rich’s enthusiasm and welcoming lab culture made Iowa feel like a place she could see herself long-term… though she wasn’t entirely sold on the winters.
In 2020, Paige joined the Microbiology Graduate Program at Iowa and, after rotating through several labs, joined Dr. Wendy Maury’s group. Initially unsure about animal research, she quickly embraced the possibilities it offered for answering big questions about viral spread. Her dissertation focuses on Ebola virus (EBOV) infection of the skin, using human skin explants and animal models to explore how the virus interacts with and spreads through this barrier tissue. Ironically, if you had asked high school Paige—during the 2014–2016 West Africa Ebola outbreak—what virus she would study, she’d have said, “Definitely not Ebola, that’s just a trendy virus.” Now EBOV is her second favorite—right after rabies, which she admires for its eerie ability to quietly turn even the sweetest animals into biting, water-fearing agents of viral chaos. After graduation, she will remain in the Maury lab for one to two years as a postdoctoral fellow before pursuing a career in industry. She looks forward to the adventure ahead—and to the possibility of a big move on the horizon.
Outside of the lab, Paige’s life in Iowa has been full of milestones: she brought her childhood dog Daisy (to whom her thesis is dedicated) to grad school, bought her first house, met her long-term boyfriend, Tony, and expanded her furry family to include two dogs (Frankie and Teddy) and two cats (Gussy and Kitty). She continues to play French horn with the Cedar Rapids Community Orchestra, enjoys time with family and pets, and has developed a cautious appreciation for cooking. Her most “Midwest culture shock” moment was witnessing trailer races at the Muscatine County Fair—a spectacular display of vehicular chaos she now considers a must-see.