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Full-Text Articles in Virology
Dissection Of Molecular Mechanisms By Which Human Host Factors Regulate Jc Polyomavirus Internalization, Colleen Mayberry
Dissection Of Molecular Mechanisms By Which Human Host Factors Regulate Jc Polyomavirus Internalization, Colleen Mayberry
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
Viruses require a host cell in order to replicate. Infection and the onset of disease result from direct virus-host cell interactions. My dissertation research is focused on understanding how a common human virus, JC polyomavirus (JCPyV), activates specific host cell factors to cause infection. When people are immunocompromised, JCPyV infection may exacerbate into the onset of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML), a fatal neurodegenerative disease. Individuals with the greatest risk for the development of PML are those living with multiple sclerosis or infected with HIV. Unfortunately 50-80% of the population is infected by JCPyV, putting individuals at risk for developing PML. …
Development Of A High-Throughput Platform For The Determination Of Antiviral Therapeutics, Mason A. Crocker
Development Of A High-Throughput Platform For The Determination Of Antiviral Therapeutics, Mason A. Crocker
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
JC polyomavirus (JCPyV) persists in up to 90% of the global human population. In healthy individuals, the virus resides within the kidneys resulting in a low-level infection. However, in severely immunocompromised individuals, the virus can migrate to the central nervous system (CNS), causing the demyelinating disease progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy (PML). Currently, this debilitating disease has no clinical therapeutic options and is almost universally fatal. Specifics of the JCPyV infectious cycle, as well as the limitations of traditional laboratory techniques, have previously hindered the search for antiviral agents with the potential to prevent or treat JCPyV infection. To this end, a …
Quantification Of Interactions Between Influenza Hemagglutinin And Host Cell Phosphoinositides By Super-Resolution Microscopy, Matthew T. Parent
Quantification Of Interactions Between Influenza Hemagglutinin And Host Cell Phosphoinositides By Super-Resolution Microscopy, Matthew T. Parent
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The influenza viral membrane protein hemagglutinin (HA) forms dense nanoscale clusters on host cell plasma membranes (PM), but the mechanisms that direct HA clustering are not well understood. Previous studies have observed HA associated with actin rich regions of the PM, but there are no known direct interactions between HA and actin. Phosphatidylinositol 4,5-biphosphate (PIP2) is a signaling lipid in the PM which can regulate the actin cytoskeleton, and actin comets initiated by PIP2 are known to be exploited by HA to reach the PM of infected cells. PIP2 is also used by other viruses, such as HIV and Ebola, …