The purpose of this proposal submitted under the NIH IDEA Program is to promote sustainable improvements in research competitiveness and infrastructure at the LSU Health Sciences Center (LSUHSC) by establishing the Center of Biomedical Research Excellence (COBRE): Center for Molecular and Tumor Virology. Four senior virologists working in molecular, tumor, and immunological virology will serve as mentors to five junior level faculty members (one to be recruited in Year 2) to enhance their competitiveness for national funding and to increase the productivity of their developing research programs. A detailed plan to mentor these junior investigators with well-defined criteria to assess the development and competitiveness of their research programs is presented. The plan stresses close interaction of the mentors and junior faculty investigators and will create a Cell Culture and Molecular Analysis Core Facility that will complement the state-of-the-art services of the LSUHSC Research Core Facilities. In addition, an External Advisory Committee comprised of internationally recognized virologists, four being members of the National Academy of Sciences, will serve as reviewers of the Center for Molecular and Tumor Virology to provide oversight and peer review of the ongoing research projects and to offer suggestions that would contribute to the excellence of the Center. The Center is multidisciplinary as the projects of the junior faculty P.l.s interface with ongoing research in the Depts. of Medicine (viral diseases) and Physiology (altered endothelium) and our Cancer (tumor virology) and Arthritis (inflammation) Centers and address the mechanisms of different disease states resulting from viral infection. These diseases include herpesvirus induced severe inflammatory disease, cytomegalovirus induced alterations in endothelial cells leading to cardiovascular disease, molecular pathogenesis of yellow fever, and the role of polyamine metabolism in Epstein Barr virus lymphomagenesis. The Center has a thematic scientific focus in that molecular approaches applied to models of these disease states seek to elucidate the varied means by which viral gene products alter the cell and orchestrate events that result in disease. All four P.I.s are well trained in molecular virology at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels and will be provided the space, resources, and released time to develop state-of-the-art research programs competitive for national funding.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Center for Research Resources (NCRR)
Type
Exploratory Grants (P20)
Project #
5P20RR018724-02
Application #
6805910
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRR1-RI-8 (01))
Program Officer
Douthard, Regine
Project Start
2003-09-30
Project End
2008-06-30
Budget Start
2004-07-01
Budget End
2005-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2004
Total Cost
$1,659,856
Indirect Cost
Name
Louisiana State University Hsc Shreveport
Department
Microbiology/Immun/Virology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
095439774
City
Shreveport
State
LA
Country
United States
Zip Code
71103
Kim, Jung Heon; Collins-McMillen, Donna; Buehler, Jason C et al. (2017) Human Cytomegalovirus Requires Epidermal Growth Factor Receptor Signaling To Enter and Initiate the Early Steps in the Establishment of Latency in CD34+ Human Progenitor Cells. J Virol 91:
Martinez, Nicholas E; Sato, Fumitaka; Kawai, Eiichiro et al. (2015) Th17-biased ROR?t transgenic mice become susceptible to a viral model for multiple sclerosis. Brain Behav Immun 43:86-97
Kawai, Eiichiro; Sato, Fumitaka; Omura, Seiichi et al. (2015) Organ-specific protective role of NKT cells in virus-induced inflammatory demyelination and myocarditis depends on mouse strain. J Neuroimmunol 278:174-84
DiGiuseppe, Stephen; Bienkowska-Haba, Malgorzata; Hilbig, Lydia et al. (2014) The nuclear retention signal of HPV16 L2 protein is essential for incoming viral genome to transverse the trans-Golgi network. Virology 458-459:93-105
Stevenson, Emily V; Collins-McMillen, Donna; Kim, Jung Heon et al. (2014) HCMV reprogramming of infected monocyte survival and differentiation: a Goldilocks phenomenon. Viruses 6:782-807
Coleman, Carrie B; McGraw, Jennifer E; Feldman, Emily R et al. (2014) A gammaherpesvirus Bcl-2 ortholog blocks B cell receptor-mediated apoptosis and promotes the survival of developing B cells in vivo. PLoS Pathog 10:e1003916
Fernando, Viromi; Omura, Seiichi; Sato, Fumitaka et al. (2014) Regulation of an autoimmune model for multiple sclerosis in Th2-biased GATA3 transgenic mice. Int J Mol Sci 15:1700-18
Martinez, Nicholas E; Karlsson, Fridrik; Sato, Fumitaka et al. (2014) Protective and detrimental roles for regulatory T cells in a viral model for multiple sclerosis. Brain Pathol 24:436-51
Sato, Fumitaka; Omura, Seiichi; Kawai, Eiichiro et al. (2014) Distinct kinetics of viral replication, T cell infiltration, and fibrosis in three phases of myocarditis following Theiler's virus infection. Cell Immunol 292:85-93
Sato, Fumitaka; Martinez, Nicholas E; Shahid, Maira et al. (2013) Resveratrol exacerbates both autoimmune and viral models of multiple sclerosis. Am J Pathol 183:1390-1396

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