Thesis Defense Announcement
To: The George Mason University Community
Candidate: Angela Schwab
Program: M.S. in Biology
Date: Friday July 8, 2016
Time: 2:30 pm
Place: George Mason University
Science & Technology Campus
Bull Run Hall, Room 257
Title: "Nanoparticle Capture of Exosomes And siRNA Knockdown of ESCRT"
Thesis Director: Dr. Fatah Kashanchi
Thesis Committee: Dr. Ramin Hakami, Dr. Yuntao Wu
A copy of the thesis will be available in the Gateway Library. All are invited to attend the defense.
ABSTRACT
HIV-1 infection can be treated with antiretroviral drugs, but an efficient system in quantifying latent HIV infection is necessary in a clinical setting. This study shows how nanoparticles
can be used to capture exosomes that contain HIV-1 RNA transcripts in patient serum, CVL, and CSF. Multiple viral RNA transcripts of different lengths were found in exosomes from infected cells, including a novel transcript termed “TAR-gag”. Exosomes
from HIV-infected cells cause recipient cells to become more susceptible to future infection. This study also shows how siRNA can be used to knock down key proteins involved in the formation of exosomes to decrease the amount of viral RNA transcripts released
in these exosomes.
###