Virology

Currently, six faculty within the Department of Microbiology and Immunology are engaged in research on viruses. The area of scholarship in virology emphasizes research on the molecular pathogenesis of infection using human and animal viruses.

Many of these faculty are part of a Program in Virology, which also includes faculty from the Departments of Clinical Sciences, Molecular Biology and Genetics, Plant Pathology and the Boyce Thompson Institute. Graduate-level training in this program is supported by a training grant from the NIH and is part of the campus-wide umbrella Program in Infection and Pathobiology.

Faculty Members

Dr. Joel Baines	Dr. Baines is studying herpes simplex virus type 1, a common infection of humans. Current experiments are focussed on the molecular mechanisms by which herpes simplex virus packages its DNA into capsids and how these capsids exit the cell nucleus during virus assembly.
Dr. James Casey	Dr. Casey is studying the role of retroviruses in neoplastic diseases in fish in collaboration with Dr. Bowser, a fish pathologist in the department. Three fish retroviral models for the induction of dermal sarcomas and epidermal hyperplasia have been developed. In addition, Dr. Casey studies feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV), which is an important pathogen in cats and provides a useful animal model for AIDS, as well as novel herpesviruses in aquatic species.
Dr. Klaus Osterrieder	Dr. Osterrieder is studying the pathologenesis and the control of two animal Herpesviruses, Marek's Disease Virus of chickens and Equine Herpesvirus of horses. The laboratory has established infectious clones for these two agents and is examining the effect of deletions and mutations on the growth of the viruses in cultured cells and in vivo. Recently, we have discovered that Equine Herpesvirus can efficiently deliver foreign genes to primary human and animal cells. Therefore, we are examining whether the animal virus has potential as a universal gene delivery vector.
Dr. John Parker	Dr. Parker studies the mammalian orthoreoviruses, well-studied model viruses for understanding the pathogenesis of double-stranded RNA virus infection. Dr Parker’s lab uses a combination of cell biology, molecular virology, and protein biochemistry to study the morphogenesis and function of viral factories – large cytoplasmic structures that are associated with the cytoskeleton. We are trying to understand how viral factories function to promote the assembly of a complex double-shelled virus particle and amplification of the dsRNA genome and additionally what are the cytopathologic sequelae of factory formation.
Dr. Collin Parrish (see his lab page)	Dr. Parrish's research is mostly focused on parvovirus infections in dogs and cats. Work in the laboratory is focussed on how the control and evolution of the viruses host range in differnt specirs and how this relates to the structure of the virus and the processes of receptor binding and endocytosis into the cell.
Dr. Karel (Ton) Shat	Dr. Schat studies the pathogenesis of Marek's disease, a herpes virus-induced lymphoma in chickens, particuarly the importancance of antigen-specific cell-mediated immune responses . Dr. Schat is also studying the impact of chicken infectious anemia virus (CIAV), a member of the circoviridae, on cell-mediated immune responses and the vertical transmission of this agent.
Dr. Gary Whittaker	Dr. Whittaker is studying the entry, nuclear transport and assembly of influenza virus . Dr. Whittaker' s lab is identifying the molecular mechanism of virus endocytosis. The laboratory is also focussed on the role of the virus matrix protein M1 in the regulation of nuclear transport and promoting virus assembly.

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