Influenza is a major human disease without any effective prophylaxis or therapy. Every year influenza inflicts enormous human suffering in the form of increased morbidity and mortality. In addition, a staggering economic loss (nearly 4 billion dollars in the USA alone) is attributed directly to influenza. The goal of this project is to elucidate the property of this virus and its behavior at the genomic level and to investigate towards developing a better immunogen for prophylaxis. Therefore, we plan to continue studying influenza genes using recombinant DNA cloning technology and elucidate the primary and secondary structure of viral proteins. Furthermore, we plan to continue expressing the cloned DNAs using appropriate vectors in mammalian cells. We also want to make specific changes at the desired location, determine precisely the function of each domain of the viral proteins and elucidate the structure-function relationship. In addition, we want to express hemagglutinin and neuraminidase genes in yeast and explore newer ways to make a better subunit vaccine.
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