Paul Friesen
Credentials: Biochemistry Department
Position title: Apoptosis, programmed cell death, mechanisms of host-virus interactions, regulation of transcription, baculovirus evolution
Email: pfriesen@wisc.edu
Phone: (608) 262-7774
Address:
721a Robert M Bock Lab
1525 Linden Dr
Madison, WI 53706
LAB WEBSITE:
https://biochem.wisc.edu/faculty/friesen
FOCUS GROUPS:
Virology; Molecular & Genome Biology of Microbes
RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:
My laboratory investigates the molecular interactions between viruses and their host cell. In particular, we are defining the mechanisms by which the DNA baculoviruses and RNA nodaviruses inactivate host cell defenses and commandeer the host cell biosynthetic machinery for replication. We study the molecular mechanisms by which viruses regulate transcription and how these novel viruses induce and/or suppress apoptosis. Apoptosis (or programmed cell death) contributes to viral pathogenesis, but is also important for maintaining cell numbers during normal development and homeostasis in an organism. Thus, misregulation of apoptosis can lead to cancer or contribute to premature cell death such as that involved in several neurodegenerative disorders. We study a variety of virus-encoded apoptotic regulators that have provided important insight into the function and regulation of cellular components of the apoptotic pathway. Our studies have defined important mechanisms of viral pathogenesis.
ALSO A TRAINER IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: Integrated Program in Biochemistry (IPiB), Cancer Biology, Microbiology