Advances in Immunology and Microbiology Seminar Series: Sudiksha Pandit and Albina Makio
About the event
Featuring research in the areas of:
Epidemiology | Infectious Disease | Disease Ecology | Drug Discovery | Virology |
Global Health | Vector-Borne Disease | Pathology
The Advances in Immunology & Microbiology seminar series is a weekly forum that brings together scientists from diverse fields and disciplines across the College of Veterinary Medicine to discuss research advances in the broad areas of immunology, microbiology, infectious diseases, and global health. Seminars feature student speakers from the Immunology & Infectious Disease (IID) doctoral program, IID-affiliated postdoctoral researchers and faculty, intramural speakers from across the university, and extramural speakers.
Department of Veterinary Microbiology and Pathology
PRESENTER: Sudiksha Pandit, PhD Candidate – Mentor: Dr. Santanu Bose, WSU
TITLES: Extracellular ISG15 activates inflammasome for maturation and release of IL-1 during RSV infection
ABSTRACT: Human respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) causes airway inflammatory diseases in infants, children, elderly, and immunocompromised individuals. Exaggerated innate immune inflammatory response exacerbate RSV-induced lung diseases like pneumonia and bronchiolitis. One of the critical pro-inflammatory cytokines involved in hyper-inflammation and exacerbated disease during RSV infection is interleukin-1 beta (IL-1). Mature IL-1 is generated following activation of caspase-1 by cytoplasmic multi-protein complex known as inflammasome. Our recent study has shown RSV infection triggering extracellular release of Interferon-stimulated gene 15 (ISG15), and extracellular ISG15 promoting release of mature IL-1 from macrophages. My project is exploring – a) the cellular/molecular mechanisms involved in extracellular ISG15 mediated mature IL-1 release, and b) the role of extracellular ISG15 in regulating inflammasome activation and mature IL-1 release in RSV infected macrophages. Understanding the mechanism of mature IL-1 release will advance the development of targeted therapies to combat RSV-associated airway inflammatory diseases.
PRESENTER: Albina Makio, PhD Candidate – Mentor: Dr. Anthony Nicola, WSU
TITLE: Structural and functional analysis of putative intermediate fusion forms of herpes simplex virus type 1 glycoprotein B
ABSTRACT: Herpes simplex viruses (HSV) are important human pathogens. About 67% of those under 50 are infected worldwide. Most infections are mild, presenting as transient skin lesions, but serious outcomes include blindness and infant mortality. There is no cure or approved vaccine. Host and viral factors influence the entry and spread of viruses. For HSV, glycoprotein B (gB), glycoprotein D (gD), glycoprotein H, and glycoprotein L (gH/gL) are the required fusion machinery for virus entry. gB is the core fusion protein. The gD-receptors nectin-1 and HVEM, and low endosomal pH facilitates HSV entry in some cell types. A detailed understanding of the herpesviral fusion mechanism has remained elusive and is important for developing new interventions. The alpha-helical domain III has a “hinge” (residues 515 to 517) that is proposed to be critical for the activation of prefusion gB. A 9-angstrom low-resolution cryo-ET structure of membrane-associated gB (H516P) trapped in a prefusion state has been reported. This hinge mutant is defective in cell-cell fusion. The general domain arrangement of this prefusion form is known, but fine structural detail and the location of antibody epitopes is unclear. The lack of detailed information about prefusion and fusion intermediate conformations is a significant gap in our knowledge that hinders understanding of HSV-1 fusion mechanisms.