PROJECT SUMMARY

Nipah virus (NiV), is a level 4 pathogen that belongs to the Paramyxovirus family. Nipah was discovered in 1999 in Malaysia and can affect both humans and animals. Nipah virus contains two envelope glycoproteins; the G attachment glycoprotein, which binds to the cell receptor, recently discovered in our laboratory to be EphrinB2, and the F fusion protein, which carries out membrane-to-membrane fusion during viral entry, after the attachment protein binding to the receptor occurs.

I am interested in structure/function relationships of viral membrane proteins. I am investigating the mechanism of Nipah virus fusion to the host cells by using molecular and biochemical approaches such as circular dichroism and fluorescence spectroscopy.

***Website designed for browsing with Microsoft IE or Mozilla Firefox at 1024x768 pixels.***