Research

Our lab primarily focuses on the molecular virology of HIV-1, but we have expanded research into Hepatitis B virus and Human Papillomavirus. Read below for more information on our ongoing projects!

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Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV)

James Bruce

My research has focused on virus/host interactions. Characterizing how viruses utilize cellular pathways enhances our understanding of both the viral lifecycle and the normal function of these cellular processes. My work has shown that HIV-1 proteins such as Envelope (Env), Tat, and Vpr regulate the cellular sulfonation, transcription, cell cycle, and DNA damage pathways to facilitate efficient viral replication.

Sydney Lesko

The 5’-untranslated “leader” region of the US RNA genome is comprised of multiple secondary stem-loop structures that regulate Gag/Gag-Pol translation, genome dimerization, and Gag association during packaging. High-resolution NMR structures of the 5’-leader suggest a model wherein the U5 portion acts as a switch to designate the genomic RNA monomer/translation vs. dimer/packaging conformations. My research project involves using fluorescence and imaging techniques to differentiate functional monomer vs. dimer 5′-leader conformations in cells.

Maddi Bandini

My overall goal is to determine how HIV-1 Vif induces metaphase arrest followed by cell death during HIV-1 replication, and whether Vif can be targeted as a cancer therapeutic. Vif is an HIV-1 accessory protein essential for viral replication and is known to degrade the host restriction factor APOBEC3G. Currently, we are working with Dr. Aussie Suzuki to define the molecular features of Vif-associated cell-cycle arrest.

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV)

Sofia Romero

My research project focuses on studying the intracellular trafficking of HBV. More specifically, I’m interested in understanding the trafficking dynamics of HBV Core protein and determining sites of nucleocapsid assembly by using a combination of live and fix-cell analysis.

Jorge Guerrero

Host Zinc-finger Antiviral Protein (ZAP) targets CpG dinucleotides, and our preliminary data indicates that HBV may be using its high CpG content to keep viral products low and evade a strong immune response. My project involves studying HBV through genomic and gene expression analysis to discover how it establishes its reservoir early during infection while evading the immune response.

Human Papillomavirus (HPV)

Kerry Smith

I’m working on repurposing HIV-1 protease inhibitors (PIs) for targeting HPV-related diseases by decreasing the levels of HPVs’ critical oncoproteins, E6 and E7. Currently, we are trying to dissect the mechanism of HIV-1 PIs in HPV-associated cancer cells.