Distinguished Lecture Series Guest Speaker: Wesley I. Sundquist
H.A. and Edna Benning Presidential Endowed Chair, Professor & Co-Chair
Department of Biochemistry
The University of Utah
Date & Time: Tuesday, January 31, 2012, 11:00AM
Location: Klaus 1116E
Host: Raquel Lieberman
Abstract: The Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport (ESCRT) pathway mediates intraluminal endosomal vesicle formation, budding of HIV-1 and other enveloped viruses, and the final abscission step of cytokinesis in mammals and archaea. I will review our current understanding of the roles of different ESCRT factors in HIV budding, and then discuss our recent findings that in addition to their roles in abscission, ESCRT factors are also required for several key steps in mitosis, including creation of the bipolar spindle and proper pairing and segregation of sister chromatids. Our studies indicate that the ESCRT pathway functions at both centrosomes and centromeres during mitosis, and then at midbodies during abscission, thereby helping to ensure ordered progression through the different stages of cell division.
Additional Information: We are interested in the molecular and structural biology of retroviruses, with particular emphasis on the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV). Projects in the laboratory focus on understanding the architecture and assembly of the viral particle, the mechanisms of intrinsic host cell defenses, and the process of virus budding. Our approaches include NMR, EM, and crystallographic studies of viral complexes, biochemical analyses of the interactions between viral components and their cellular partners, and genetic analyses of viral protein functions.
