Research

Laboratory Interests

 My laboratory is interested in the molecular biology and genetics of baculoviruses, large DNA-containing viruses that replicate in the nucleus of cells.  Baculoviruses are insect pathogens that have made a great impact in today’s technology for their wide use as gene expression vectors in the production of recombinant proteins important in both clinical and basic research as well as their potential use as biological pest control agents, since their hosts are insect pests that feed on our crops and forests or insects that carry pathogens that cause wide-spread human diseases.  Baculoviruses express genes in a complex cascade fashion during an early, a late, and a very late phase involving the switch from a host to a viral RNA polymerase and culminating in the production of two virus forms with the same genetic material but different morphology, composition, and roles in the virus life cycle.  We are determining the specific functions of a set of 21 genes that are necessary for viral DNA replication and gene transcription at late times of the viral life cycle.  A number of these transcription factors are components of the virus-encoded DNA-directed RNA polymerase, a novel and multifunctional RNA polymerase with marginal identities to the conserved RNA polymerases encoded by organisms ranging from bacteria to humans.  In addition, another subset of these 21 genes is also important for the virus to infect additional hosts, making virus-host interactions yet another element of importance in the characterization of these genes.  Studying the host factors that interact with viral factors will help define the strategies the virus uses to replicate and eliminate its host.

Research Projects

Host Range Specificity in Baculoviruses

Viral Gene Regulation

Crystallography of the Viral RNA Polymerase

Viral Virulence Factors