Brenden Bartsch is a second-year ARCS Scholar at OHSU, supported by the Rose E. Tucker Charitable Trust. Brenden currently works in Dr. Dan Streblow’s lab at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute (VGTI).  

Brenden was kind enough to share his story, and it’s a good one. 

“When I was 11 years old, I watched a movie called Contagion that tells the story of a virus originating in bats and pigs that eventually spread to cause a deadly pandemic in humans. After the film, I became fascinated with the immune response to viruses. I remember thinking then that this was my thing. I was overwhelmed with curiosity, wondering how vaccines work to give us lifelong protection. That same curiosity is what keeps me going. I love what I do! 

I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Microbiology and Immunology from The University of Texas at San Antonio as a NIH-RISE trainee. (National Institute of Health- Research Initiative for Student Enhancement is a highly competitive award for fledgling scientists). I mention RISE because the program changed my life by allowing me to quit my job and transition to working full time in the lab while I developed the credentials and skills necessary for graduate school.  

I chose OHSU for my PhD because I had lived in Texas my whole life and wanted to experience something drastically different for my 20s. Additionally, the PNW was always appealing to me and the faculty here aligned with my interests. 

When I began my PhD studies in 2024, I was working on the immune response to Mpox but had to change projects when my mentor left the university. Since joining VGTI, I’ve been working with a group on oropouche (o-ro-push) virus, an arbovirus like dengue, Zika, and Chikungunya virus, that are spread by arthropods such as mosquitos or midges.  

(ARCS notes from an NPR Nov. 24, 2024 release: “The fact that midges spread it is a serious issue. “Biting midges are known as ‘no-see-ums,’” says Dr. Chris Braden, deputy director of the CDC’s National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases. “They’re so small they can actually fly through standard window screens.” They’ve long been considered a nuisance, leaving itchy welts or spurring allergic reactions with their bites. But this understanding that they can transmit a virus that harms humans raises biting midges to a new level of concern. They're an emerging disease vector that hasn’t been well-studied.) 

That paper is currently in progress, but it would be difficult to obtain support for a grant to study oropouche as a PhD project. As of now, it looks like my PhD will consist of working on developing a broad alphavirus vaccine. Alphaviruses include Chikungunya, Ross River, O’nyong nyong, and Mayaro viruses that can all cause debilitating chronic arthritis in some patients. 

Although it has been a rough start to my PhD pursuit, my first contributing paper just got published last month! I was able to get one through my contributions in a rotation. (https://doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2025.115243).  

In my free time I am a movie and music nerd/collector who loves to go hiking and experiment in the kitchen.”