Seminar - Hijacking the Spring-loaded Cell Entry Machine and Killing HIV-1
Friday, January 22, 2016
4:00 PM-5:30 PM
Details:
Irwin Chaiken, PhD, professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Drexel University College of Medicine, will discuss how HIV-1/AIDS infection remains a global pandemic, with no cure and no vaccine, and how this has led to investigation of the enticing, but so far not fully conquered cell entry process as a target for intervention and prevention. The HIV-1 virus surface contains a single protein complex, the envelope protein or Env, which provides the homing mechanism for the virus to recognize host cell receptors and trigger entry and infection. The metastable Env is a spring-loaded machine, similar to a mousetrap, that encodes a sequence of interactions and conformational changes when virus encounters cell. This cascade culminates in cell-virus membrane fusion and consequent delivery of virus genetic contents into the cell to ultimately permit formation of more infectious viruses.
Building from an interest in the fundamental protein mechanisms of Env, we have identified small-molecule, nanoparticle and recombinant protein inhibitors that can “turn the tables” on HIV-1, prematurely triggering transformation of the spring-loaded Env machine before cell encounter in order to irreversibly inactivate the virus. The results obtained so far open up opportunities to use a broad multidisciplinary range of STEM fields in order to improve molecular designs, to determine fundamental structural principles of HIV-1 Env vulnerability, to expand understanding of how viruses form and function and to learn how to take advantage of virus-killer discoveries to control the disease.
For more info, please visit
drexel.edu/biomed.
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Biosketch:Irwin Chaiken graduated from Classical High School in Providence Rhode Island, where he first became fascinated, by accident, in proteins and cells. He earned an A.B. degree at Brown University, majoring in Chemistry, minoring in Biology and allowing enough time to study the humanities. He earned a PhD degree at the University of California at Los Angeles, starting down the path of protein chemistry and investigating the active site mechanism of the protease papain with Professor Emil L. Smith. During postdoctoral training at the National Institutes of Health with Dr. Christian B. Anfinsen, he became interested in protein interaction mechanisms, an interest that has since then grown into an interest in protein machines in health and disease.
Dr. Chaikin has been a Senior Investigator at NIH, a Department Head and Research Fellow at what is now GlaxoSmithKline, a Research Professor at the University of Pennsylvania, and now Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at Drexel. Emerging from these experiences in government, the pharmaceutical industry, and academics, his current research program involves multi-departmental, multi-institutional, and international collaborations aimed at investigating molecular/structural mechanisms of HIV-1 infection and antagonism.
Contact Information
Ken Barbee
215-895-1335
barbee@drexel.edu