Head

Associate Professor Johnson Mak, BSc, PhD

Staff

Dr Michelle Peters, BVetSci(Hons1), PhD
Dr Candida da Fonseca Pereira, BSc, PhD
Dr Marcel Hijnen, BSc, PhD

Students

Ms Kate Jones, BSc(Hons)
Mr David Hawkes, BSc(Hons)
Mr Redmond Smyth, BSc(Hons), MSc

Visiting Scientist

Professor Roland Marquet

 

Research Overview

HIV has evolved to hijack a number of host cell components/machineries during viral assembly to support its own propagation. The HIV Assembly Group is using multi-disciplinary approaches to define the process of virus formation and to identify the vulnerable spots of HIV for the development of effective treatment and prevention strategy against the virus. The major work of this laboratory includes:
• Examination of how HIV utilises host cell proteins to support the synthesis of viral genome
• Determination of how HIV enters the cells by manipulating cholesterol and other forms of fat
• Evaluation of how the structure of viral genome impacts on viral function
• Dissection of the mechanism of HIV evolution that is critical for the generation of multiple drug resistant- and immune escape-viruses seen in the clinic
• Defining the key contact points between viral and host cell proteins at the molecular level
• Identifying viral weak spots that are transient exposed during the maturation of HIV
• Visualizing the movement of viral components at the early (entry) and the late (release) stage of HIV replication

 

Research Objectives

• To identify and to characterize novel host cell factors that are important for HIV-1 replication
• To determine how virus-associated lipids support viral replication
• To define the RNA structures of HIV-1 genome
• To delineate the mechanism of HIV evolution by studying retroviral recombination
• To dissect the structural determinants of viral and host cell protein-protein interaction during virus formation
• To define the rearrangement of virion proteins during virus formation
• To delineate the virus entry and uncoating process through imaging

 

Research Highlights

• We have identified parameters that can manipulate the HIV evolution process, and this information will be invaluable to suppress the generation of multiple drug resistant HIV through evolution
• We have gathered direct evidence to resolve the controversy whether nucleic acid editing enzyme uracil DNA glycosylase is important for virus replication
• We have obtained evidence showing how virion-associated cholesterol support viral replication
• We have created fluorescent HIV that we can used to track its infection process during infection
• We have established Australian’s first physical containment level three deconvolution imaging facility at the Burnet through the support of the Board of Directors at the Burnet