Dr. Branch's current interests can be broken down into 4 main areas:
- Signaling involving c-Src
- Signaling in HIV/AIDS pathogenesis and disease resistance
- Studies of SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase in malignancies
- Mechanism of intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG) effect in autoimmune inflammatory diseases
- The function of pp60c-src and Pyk2 in HIV infection
- The role of signaling through the VPAC family of neuroendocrine receptors on HIV/AIDS infection and resistance to infection
- Drug discovery for small molecular weight molecules that block HIV fusion
- Identification of novel treatment modalities for HIV/AIDS
- The signaling pathways used by HIV for its early stages of its life cycle
- The mechanism of IVIG treatment for autoimmune inflammatory diseases
- Drug discovery for small molecular weight molecules that inhibit phagocytosis
- The mechanism of anti-D immune prophylaxis and treatment of idiopathic thrombocytopenic purpura
- Drug discovery for alternatives to IVIG