*Dissertation Defense Announcement:
To:  The George Mason University Community*

*Jeremy Kelly
PhD Biosciences Candidate
*
*Date:   Friday, January 15, 2010
Time:   10:00 a.m. 
Place:  George Mason University, Prince William campus
	     Discovery Hall Auditorium 
 
Dissertation Chair: Dr. Yuntao Wu

Title: **"HIV Initiates Multiple Signaling Cascades Required for Effective Replication"**

*

*A copy of the dissertation is on reserve in the Johnson Center Library, 
Fairfax campus.  The doctoral project will not be read at the meeting, 
but should be read in advance. *

*All members of the George Mason University community are invited to 
attend.*


            ABSTRACT

The Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) infects lymphocytes by binding
to CD4 and either the CXCR4 or CCR5 receptor. Signaling initiated by
these receptors in response to the virus was originally found to be
unnecessary for viral infection.  However, recent work by our lab has
demonstrated that in resting CD4 T cells CXCR4 signaling is necessary
to overcome cortical actin restriction.  Here we show that multiple
signaling cascades are not only initiated by HIV and CD4/CXCR4
signaling, but that this signaling can impact viral replication in
non-resting cells. We specifically identify the JAK/STAT pathway as a
necessary component of early viral transcription; which has
implications for not only novel therapeutics but also for
understanding how we view viral interactions with the immune system.

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