Transmission of Endoscopic Procedures from the Medical Sciences Campus to Four Institutions Simultaneously
HIV-1 Co-receptors: Role in Virus Entry and
AIDS Pathogenesis
From left: Dr. Dana Gabuzda; Vivian
García, laboratory technician; Dr. Loyda Meléndez; Miguel
Arroyo, doctoral student; Johana Meléndez, graduate student, and
Jessicca Renta, M.S., laboratory technician
Dr. Dana Gabuzda, a consultant to the RCMI HIV Vertical Transmission Study, visited our Program on May 4 and 5. Dr. Gabuzda is Associate Professor of the Department of Cancer Immunology and AIDS and Researcher at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute. She is currrently working on HIV neuropathogenesis and on the role of co-receptors in this disease. Dr. Gabuzda has published more than 25 papers in the field in journals such as Nature and the Journal of Virology among others.
Dr. Gabuzda presented the seminar "HIV-1 Co-receptors: Role in Virus Entry and AIDS Pathogenesis". In this seminar, Dr. Gabuzda presented an excellent review on the expression of co-receptors on cells and tissues, and on the variability of the co-receptor-HIV envelope interaction among different variants. Dr. Gabuzda also presented her own data on mechanisms of HIV neurotropism. She has found that macrophage or lymphocyte tropism does not dictate the cytopathicity for brain cells. Her data suggests that only certain cytopathic strains are neurovirulent, and that neurovirulence is associated with CXCR4 co-receptor usage and with the induction of apoptosis of neurons. She performed these studies in human brain cultures, and in brain tissues from autopsies of pediatric AIDS patients.
Dr. Gabuzda also met with Dr. Loyda Meléndez, graduate students, and laboratory staff to discuss data. She provided excellent feedback regarding the planning of future experiments and the submission of grant proposals.
