Rate My Professor Marc Busch

Marc G. Busch serves as Associate Professor of Biology, Chair of the Biology Department, and Director of the Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology (BCMB) Program at Drake University. He has been a faculty member there since 2009, initially joining as an Assistant Professor. Busch earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology, with emphases in Microbiology and Molecular Biology/Biochemistry, from the University of California, Irvine, where he conducted research examining the replication of picornaviruses. After working as a laboratory technician for a year, he pursued and obtained his Ph.D. in Microbiology from the University of California, Davis, studying HIV vaccine models. Subsequently, he completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, examining the species specificity of influenza A viruses.

Busch's research interests center on virology, particularly the restrictions in influenza A virus replication, including infectivity phenotypes in primary swine and human respiratory epithelial cells, glycan analysis, hemagglutinin determinants, and interactions between viral nucleoproteins and human host proteins. Notable publications include "Infectivity phenotypes of H3N2 influenza A viruses in primary swine respiratory epithelial cells are controlled by sialic acid binding" (2012), "Identification of putative interactions between swine and human influenza A virus nucleoprotein and human host proteins" (2014), "Amino Acid 226 in the Hemagglutinin of H4N6 Influenza Virus Determines Binding Affinity for 2,6-Linked Sialic Acid and Infectivity Levels in Primary Swine and Human Respiratory Epithelial Cells" (2008), and "Glycan Analysis and Influenza A Virus Infection of Primary Swine Respiratory Epithelial Cells" (2010). In 2019, Busch and Dr. Brian Gentry were awarded a multi-year $390,000 grant from the Merck Investigator Studies Program to investigate letermovir, an antiviral drug targeting the viral terminase enzyme in immunocompromised patients. Busch teaches Cell Biology (BIO 165), Molecular Biology (BIO 186), Cell and Molecular Biology Lab (BIO 187L), Genetics (BIO 105), and Virology (BIO 104).