The long-term objective of our research group is to understand the molecular mechanisms that regulate the biological activities in the life cycles of medically important viruses, in order to develop anti-viral strategies.
Our current focus is to establish structure-function correlations in viruses that cause gastroenteritis in humans. These viruses include members of the viral families reoviridae and caliciviridae.
Using three-dimensional structural analysis carried out by a combination of
electron
cryo-microscopy,
computer image processing, and
X-ray crystallography
techniques, we are able to provide a detailed description of the
structural components of the viruses in the Reoviridae and
Caliciviridae
. Recent developments in molecular biology have enabled the expression
of several viral proteins in
adequate quantities, allowing us to probe further into the structural
intricacies of these viruses and to understand better the molecular
mechanisms that underlie various biological functions related to viral pathogenesis
such as:
Cell entry (1
,2,
3),
Antibody neutralization
(1,
2),
Genome organization
(1,
2),
Transcription
(1 ,
2),
Genome replication/packaging
(1,
2),
Assembly (1),
Polyprotein processing (1),
Strain diversity
(1,
2,
3).
We have recently expanded our reserach focus to include structre-function of viral proteins such as NS1 of influenza virus
that antagonize the inteferon response pathway
(1).
Cryo-EM applications: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7)
Hybrid crystallography (cryo-EM + X-ray): (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
X-ray crystallography: (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 7)
Bioinformatics: (1)
You are welcome to browse through the abstracts of the recently published papers written by the members of this research team.
Dr. Prasad's Lab has its home in:
Please send comments to vprasad@bcm.tmc.edu.