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Michael Belshan, Ph.D.
Research Interests:
My fundamental research interest is virus-host cell interactions,
specifically related to the replication and pathogenesis of the lentivirus
subfamily of retroviruses. Members of this subfamily include the
human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV and SIV, respectively).
The focus of our work is to understand the interaction of viral components
and the host cell environment by using a cell biology approach to
obtain results that provide insights not only into mechanisms of
virus replication and pathogenesis, but also the biology of cellular
pathways. All the members of the diverse family of retroviruses have
a common genomic structure and life cycle, yet they have evolved
to infect a broad range of cell types in diverse species and elicit
various pathologies. Our current research focuses on characterizing
early events in HIV infection. A hallmark and critical feature of
the pathology of lentiviruses is the ability to infect non-dividing
cells. Productive infection of non-dividing cells by HIV requires
active nuclear transport of the viral DNA to, and across the host
cell nuclear membrane leading to viral dsDNA integration into the
host genome. This process is mediated by a large nucleoprotein complex
called the viral pre-integration complex (PIC). My lab is currently
investigating the composition, assembly, and transport of both the
HIV and SIV PICs. This area remains one of the least defined aspects
of HIV replication and thus a novel and exciting area to study. The
characterization of the pathway of PIC transport to the nucleus is
a first step in the development of a new class of antiviral therapeutics.
Selected Publications:
Belshan, M., M.E. Harris, A.E. Shoemaker, T.J. Hope, and S. Carpenter.
1998. Biological characterization of rev variation in equine infectious
anemia virus. J. Virol. 72:4421-4426.
Belshan, M., G. Park, P. Bilodeau, C. Martin Stoltzfus, and S. Carpenter.
2000. Binding of equine infectious anemia virus Rev to an exon splicing
enhancer mediates alternative splicing and nuclear export of viral
mRNAs. Mol. Cell Biol. 20:3550-3557.
Belshan, M., P. Baccam, J.L. Oaks, S. Murphy, J.L. Cornette, and
S. Carpenter. 2001. Genetic and biological variation in equine infectious
anemia virus Rev at different stages of clinical disease: Implications
for virus persistence. Virology. 279:185-200.
Belshan, M. and L. Ratner. 2003. Identification of the nuclear localization
signal of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 Vpx. Virology. 311:7-15.
Baccam, P., R.J. Thompson, Y. Li, W.O. Sparks, M. Belshan, K.S.
Dorman, Y. Wannemuehler, J.L. Oaks, J.L. Cornette, and S. Carpenter.
2003. Subpopulations of equine infectious anemia virus Rev co-exist
in vivo and differ in phenotype. J. Virol. 77:12122-31.
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