Graduate Programs in the Life Sciences

Research Focus

• The major focus of the laboratory is to understand herpes simplex virus assembly. The work is divided into two areas. The first area of interest focuses on the process of DNA cleavage and packaging within infected cell nuclei; the process is the target of a novel class of antiviral drugs currently under development. The work is now focused on DNA binding activities relevant to DNA packaging. The approach is to identify packaging proteins that bind DNA and test the binding activities for relevance to the in vivo packaging reaction.
• A second area concerns the cell biology of HSV assembly and envelopment. Experiments have identified proteins, essential to envelopment of nucleocapsids, that alter the structure of the nucleus, presumably to allow efficient production of virions. The goal of this research is to determine how the HSV proteins alter the nuclear cytoskeleton and mediate nucleocapsid trafficking through the nucleoplasm. This should shed light not only on envelopment of nucleocapsids, but also the functions of host proteins required for maintenance of the normal nuclear architecture and trafficking of material through the nucleus in uninfected cells.