Subhash Verma: Biochemical and recombinant virus approaches to establish the role of viral proteins and genetic elements in the replication and persistence of human viruses
Title
Biochemical and recombinant virus approaches to establish the role of viral proteins and genetic elements in the replication and persistence of human viruses
Mentor
Department
Biosketch
My laboratory is interested in defining the molecular mechanism of human viruses causing acute and chronic diseases. We study a variety of viruses including human herpesviruses, Zika virus (ZIKV), human coronaviruses, NL63, OC43 and SARS-CoV-2. Human herpesviruses, Kaposi’s Sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus (KSHV) and Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV) cause lifelong persistent infection with induction of malignant tumors in immune-compromised individuals including HIV+ and patients receiving immune suppressive therapies. Virus-induced tumors are among the major causes of morbidity and mortality in HIV/AIDS patients.
SARS-COV-2 is a recently discovered virus belonging to the beta coronavirus genera of the human coronaviruses including human coronavirus OC43 and HKU1. We are using the OC43 strain (HCoV-OC43) to understand the basic biology and immune responses to human coronaviruses. Additionally, we are conducting genomic surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 by continuous monitoring of SARS-CoV-2 sequences among COVID-19 patients of the state of Nevada to identify viral variants.
The overall goal of my laboratory is to define the genetic and epigenetic factors involved in viral replication and pathogenesis. We use novel approaches including high-resolution visualization of the individual viral genome to localize replication initiation and termination sites. We use next-generation sequencing to define gene mutation, amplification, protein binding, and expression profiling to identify point mutations (variant identification), changes in chromatin structure, and alteration in cellular pathways. Additionally, we use various other biochemical and recombinant approaches to establish the role of viral and cellular genes involved in virus replication and persistence.
Project overview
Students are required to have at least 200 levels of biology and microbiology courses with a basic understanding of viruses and human cells. We study a variety of human viral pathogens, including DNA viruses (Kaposi’s sarcoma Associated Herpesvirus, Cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr Virus) and RNA Viruses (human coronaviruses; NL63, OC43, and SARS-CoV-2, Influenza and Dengue Virus). Job responsibilities include literature search on viruses studied in our laboratory, preparing media, running agarose and protein gels, culturing human cells, and transfecting and expressing viral proteins.
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