Our laboratory is focused on understanding the mechanisms by which viral components usurp host cell machinery to carry out virus assembly and propagation. Specifically, we are interested in the ways in which enveloped viruses, such as Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), hijack membrane remodeling components to mediate virus assembly and release. This research is enabled by the use of advanced fluorescence microscopy technologies such as three-dimensional point-localization superresolution imaging (PALM/STORM), which provides unparalleled cellular resolution and molecular specificity at < 50 nanometer spatial scales. Additionally, we use single-molecule FRET to probe the dynamics of key biomolecules at spatial scales < 10 nanometers. Combined these techniques allow us to spy on virus and host cell molecules in order to understand the structural principles that govern cellular and molecular function. Projects in the laboratory use a variety of supplementary techniques such as: mammalian cell culture, molecular biology, biochemistry, fluorescent probe/protein engineering, and image analysis to enable quantitative measurements of molecular and cellular systems. It is expected that these measurements will enable construction of accurate models of the host-pathogen interface with the eventual goal of therapeutic exploitation of viral dependencies.
