Donna Neumann

LAB WEBSITE:

Neumann Lab

FOCUS GROUPS:

Molecular & Genome Biology of Microbes; Transcriptional Mechanisms; Virology

RESEARCH DESCRIPTION:

Herpes Simplex Virus Type 1 (HSV-1) infects ~80% of adults. It is one of the leading causes of infectious blindness, induces dangerous brain inflammation and can lead to death in infected newborns. Disadvantaged populations are disproportionately affected by the virus. HSV-1 productively replicates in epithelial cells. This lytic replication makes infectious progeny virions that spread infections within and between hosts and causes the cellular damage that leads to sequelae. The virus also establishes latency in neurons where it remains dormant for the life of the infected host. Latent HSV-1 does not cause disease but remains capable of reactivation to produce infectious progeny that can re-fortify latent reservoirs while also re-infecting epithelial cells causing all the related pathology described above. No vaccine exists for HSV, and the available antivirals (e.g., Acyclovir) rapidly select for resistant mutants. Thus, novel antivirals against HSV-1 are desperately needed. Our lab focuses on understanding the transcriptional mechanisms that control each of the viral life cycle stages to develop novel therapeutics. Much of our work focuses on epigenetic control of transcription, and specifically how chromatin insulators (CTCF insulators) direct the silincing or transcription of viral genomes.

ALSO A TRAINER IN THE FOLLOWING PROGRAMS: Microbiology (MDTP), Cellular and Molecular Pathology (CMP)

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