Amy Proal
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PolyBio Research Foundation
Amy Proal | |
|---|---|
| Education | Georgetown University Murdoch University |
| Known for | Long COVID research |
| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Microbiology |
| Institutions | Autoimmunity Research Foundation PolyBio Research Foundation |
| Thesis | Autoimmune disease re-examined in light of metagenomic concepts (2012) |
| Doctoral advisors | Trevor Marshall Cassandra Berry Douglas Eagles |
Amy Proal is an American microbiologist who studies the effects of bacterial, fungal, and viral pathogens on human health at the molecular level. She is one of the founders of PolyBio Research Foundation, a company investigating the basis of chronic infection-associated illnesses, and currently serves on the company's board of directors.[1] She has recently been noted for her work investigating the causes of long covid.[2][3][4]
Proal received her Bachelor of Science in biology from Georgetown University in 2005 and later obtained her PhD in microbiology at Murdoch University in 2012. Her graduate work focused on characterizing dysregulated pathways in the context of autoimmune disease and potential avenues of treatment. Her doctoral thesis was titled "Autoimmune disease re-examined in light of metagenomic concepts".[5]
Career
Proal's decision to pursue a career in microbiology was motivated by personal experience with severe and repeated infections as a young child and later during her undergraduate studies when she was diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).[6] After completing her PhD, she continued to explore the link between persistent viral pathogens in the human body and chronic illness. She became a member of the research team at the Autoimmunity Research Foundation, a California-based nonprofit, where she has published papers on autoimmunity in the context of the human microbiome,[7] the role of host-microbe interaction in microbiome dysbiosis and inflammation,[8] and the relationship between the pathogens driving ME/CFS and the human microbiome.[9]
She is one of the founding members and current president/chief scientific officer of PolyBio Research Foundation, a 501(c)3 dedicated to investigating the molecular mechanisms underlying infection-associated chronic illnesses including ME/CFS, Lyme disease, and more recently Long COVID, as well as their effect on immunity, human metabolism, and inflammatory response.
Proal spearheaded the launch of the Long COVID Research Consortium in September 2022,[10] a collaboration between scientists at premier institutions across the country, to study the fundamental causes of Long Covid.