I currently am a graduate student in Microbiology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. While the place is not as interesting as where I did my under grad work, it has the advantage of having one of the top research programs in the world on HIV (human immunodeficiency virus). I am currently at work on a number of projects and my first first author paper in this field will be coming out in the next several months. .

Just to provide a quick overview of HIV, the virus has a double stranded RNA genome that is protected from the environment first by a protein capsid and second by a lipid-protein membrane (as shown on the right). Even with these protective layers the virus is relatively unstable outside of the host and will usually be rendered non-infectious within an hour in the environment. Unfortunately, in the body of its host, its high rate of infection and its ability to maintain itself in a non-active form (latency) for years makes its almost impossible to eradicate following a productive infection of a new host. For this reason, research in this field is split into trying to stop the virus prior to infection and trying to develop treatments for those already infected

My work is focused on three major questions. The interplay of reverse transcription and integration in the early events of retroviral replication, the interplay of HIV with HERVs (human endogenous retroviruses), and the development of gene therapy approaches for treatment of HIV infected individuals.      The interplay of the integrase and reverse transciptase protein has been suggested by several mutants and I am doing work to clarify if this interaction exists and how it affects the early events that take place between the virion fusing to the host cell and the viral DNA integrating into the host genome (the steps of which are shown to the left).

My second project is devoted to work concerning if HERVs (retroviruses that have been part of the human genome for several million years) can possibly enhance or confer resistance to the HIV viruses present in that individual. My third project is a gene therapy approach that is designed to render all virions produced by the target cell non-infectious. This could effectively stop the progression of HIV into AIDS.      I really cannot go into any more detail on these areas of research as a consequence of copyrights and the fact that work in these areas has not yet been completed. If you have any questions on these areas or on HIV in general, I would be glad to answer them via e-mail.

If you are a bit curious how I got to working with HIV, I have to admit the route was a bit circuitous. I started doing research in marine biology and ecology in High School and actually did a short stint working for the EPA as a research assistant prior to my entry into college. For the next several years I worked as a part time lab tech at Duke's School of the Environment doing work to set environmental standards for phosphate emissions into wetland area. To avoid terminal boredom, I became a part time research assistant at Duke's Pediatric Medical Genetics department my Junior and senior year of college. I found I liked doing work that could directly affect people and became fascinated with gene therapy. After a short summer stint, working as a lab tech at Duke's Pediatric Cardiology division, I entered the graduate program in Cellular and Molecular Biology at the University of Alabama and this is where I will remain until I get my Ph.D. If you are really interested in my background or if you have a nice position you want to offer me, I would be glad to send you my CV.