1. Biology Department Seminar

    "An Integrative Approach to Understanding HIV-1 Capsid Assembly and Host Cell Interactions"

    Presented by Peijun Zhang, Ph.D, University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine

    Monday, May 23, 2016, 3 pm
    John Dunn Seminar Room, Bldg. 463

    Hosted by: Huilin Li

    My research program focuses on understanding the structural mechanisms of macromlecular assemblies using an integrated approach by combining three-dimensional cryo-electron microscopy (cryoEM), with biochemical, biophysical, computational methods. With the recent advance in direct electron detection, cryoEM has become a powerful tool for structure determination of protein complexes and assemblies. Our current research efforts are directed to two such large assemblies: HIV-1 viral capsid and bacterial chemotaxis receptor signaling arrays. In this presentation, I will mainly focus on HIV-1 capsid assembly, maturation and interaction with host cell factors that modulate viral infectivity. I will also present some of the technologies we developed, in particular the correlative fluorescent light microscopy and cryoEM method (CLEM), to advance our understanding of HIV-1 pathogenesis.