About Dr. Sacco
I am a Professor in the Department of Biological Science, and I have been teaching Molecular Biology at Cal State Fullerton for 17 years. I am originally from Canada and did my undergraduate studies in Genetics (BSc Honours) and a master's degree (MSc) in Plant Molecular Biology at the University of Western Ontario. I moved to England to do my PhD in Molecular Virology through the University of London (Royal Veterinary College), with my research studying chicken retroviruses based at a British government research lab called the Institute for Animal Health.
I returned to studying plants for postdoctoral work at the Boyce Thompson Institute in Ithaca, NY before joining Cal State Fullerton in 2008. My research lab includes undergraduate and master's degree students studying plant-virus interactions at the level of protein-protein interactions, and we have a separate project investigating endogenous retroviruses that has recently identified viruses with a novel genome arrangement in nematodes.
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Education
2002
University of London, Royal Veterinary College
Doctor of Philosogy - Molecular Virology
Thesis Title: Characterisation of the EAV-HP endogenous retrovirus elements of the Gallus genus
1997
University of Western Ontario
Master of Science - Plant Sciences
Thesis Title: Characterization of the native forms of plant hsp90 under non-stress conditions and of its expression in Brassica napus in response to various stresses and phytohormone treatments.
1993
University of Western Ontario
Bachelor of Science (Honours) - Genetics
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