MVP currently hosts 24 faculty members from 11 departments. Major thematic research areas include: viral protein structure and molecular biology of virus transcription and replication, viral protein structure and function, virus-cell interactions, viral oncogenesis and pathogenesis, host response to viral infections, preventative strategies and virus evolution.

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INDIVIDUAL FACULTY INTERESTS

Paul Ahlquist: Professor, Oncology and Molecular Virology; Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator; Replication mechanisms of \positive-strand RNA viruses including brome mosaic virus (BMV), a representative member of the alphavirus-like superfamily, and flock house virus (FHV), the best studied member of the nodaviruses, which cause severe neurological disorders in some animals.

Kristen Bernard: Professor, Pathobiological Sciences; Molecular biology of arboviruses.

Curtis R. Brandt: Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology and Opthalmology and Visual Sciences; Pathogenesis of herpes simplex virus; virulence genes in herpetic eye disease and herpes encephalitis; antivirals; interactions between cytokines and herpes viruses, and gene delivery, gene therapy.

Thomas Freidrich: Assistant Professor, Pathobiological Sciences; Molecular biology of SIV/HIV.

Paul Friesen: Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Virology; Molecular biology and replication of baculoviruses, a group of large DNA viruses that are pathogenic to invertebrates.

Tom German: Professor, Plant Pathology; Analysis of replication and expression strategies of tomato spotted wilt virus.

Jim Gern: Professor, Allergy, Immunology & Rheumatology, School of Medicine, Virus associations with asthma.

Robert Kalejta: Associate Professor, Oncology and Molecular Virology; Mechanisms of herpes virus interactions with infected cells and viral regulation of cell cycling events.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka: Professor, Pathobiological Sciences; Molecular mechanism of interspecies transmission of the influenza virus leading to influenza pandemics in humans; molecular pathogenesis of influenza in poultry and mammals. Ebola virus - role of viral proteins in pathogenesis and viral replication.

Shannon Kenney: Wattawa Bascom Professor in Cancer Research, Medicine and Oncology; Research effort is focused upon understanding the molecular regulation and pathogenesis of the human herpesvirus, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV).

Paul F. Lambert: Professor, Oncology; Mechanisms by which certain human papillomaviruses (HPVs) cause cervical cancer; control of replication of the papillomaviral genome and expression of viral genes in the viral life cycle.

Daniel D. Loeb: Professor, Oncology; Mechanism of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) reverse transcription: mechanisms of RNA encapsidation, initiation and synthesis of minus-strand DNA, initiation and synthesis of plus-strand DNA, and genome circularization during plus-strand DNA synthesis.

Mirek Malkovsky: Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology; Pathogenesis and treatment of HIV-induced disorders, gene therapy and immunotherapy of malignant tumors, heat shock proteins, gamma/delta T lymphocytes, immunoregulation, fusion music, good food/drinks, skiing, and tennis.

Janet E. Mertz: Professor, Oncology; Transcriptional and post-transcriptional mechanisms for the control of gene expression in mammalian cells, employing the small, primate tumor viruses, simian virus 40 (SV40), hepatitis B virus (HBV) and other viruses and well-defined host genes.

David O'Connor: Assistant Professor, Pathology and Laboratory Medicine; The interplay of host genetics, cellular immunity, and the pathogenesis of simian 
immunodeficiency virus (SIV) and human immunodeficiency virus infections.

Chris Olsen: Associate Professor of Public Health, Pathobiological Sciences; Molecular epidemiology of swine influenza viruses and their public health significance. Development of DNA-based vaccines and the study of mucosal immunity.

Jorge Osorio: Assistant Professor, Pathobiological Sciences; To contribute to the knowledge and understanding of the pathogenesis of important human and veterinary diseases and to develop novel methods for vaccination and prevention.  Strongest interest in viruses and zoonotic pathogens. .

Ann Palmenberg: Professor, Biochemistry and Molecular Virology; Director of the Institute of Molecular Virology, Molecular biology of RNA picornaviruses; protein translation, proteolytic processing; RNA synthesis; viral pathogenesis; viral vaccines, vaccine vectors; computer-based sequence analysis.

Ronald Schultz: Professor and Chair, Pathobiological Sciences; Immunopathogenesis of viral diseases; developmental aspects of immunity; effects of environmental factors on immune systems; vaccinology.

Robert Striker: Associate Professor, Medicine, Infectious Diseases Section and Medical Microbiology and Immunology; RNA viruses have high mutation rates and robust replication so they evolve rapidly to adapt to the exact cellular conditions of the host. Therefore RNA viruses are a challenge to the human immune system, as well as drug and vaccine development. We study the molecular details of what portions of the viruses are susceptible to evolutionary pressure. (HCV)

Marulasiddappa Suresh: Associate Professor, Immunology, Pathobiological Sciences; Mechanism(s) underlying the apoptosis of virus-specific effector T cells and survival of memory T cells following an acute infection of mice with lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV).

Bill Sugden: Professor, Oncology; Understanding molecularly how Epstein-Barr virus (EBV), a human pathogenic herpes virus that is causally associated with several human cancers, induces and maintains the proliferation of infected human B- lymphocytes.

David Watkins: Professor, Pathology; Primate models using Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) to study AIDS: immune responses and vaccine development.

John Yin: Professor, Chemical Engineering and Cargill Faculty Fellow; Quantitative and dynamic understanding of the virus-host interaction: computer simulation for the intracellular growth of bacteriophage T7, kinetics of virus-host interactions during the spread of viruses

Listing of research areas with faculty grouping