Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Human Genetics | PI: Wesley I. Sundquist, PhD & Nels C. Elde, PhD

A Protein that Blocks Virus Budding

A collaboration between the labs of University of Utah Health researchers Nels Elde, PhD, and Wesley Sundquist, PhD, showed that some mammals contain duplicated and shortened genes for a key ESCRT protein. The resulting “retroCHMP3” proteins block the release of HIV and other enveloped viruses. Continue reading → A Protein that Blocks Virus Budding
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry | PI: Wesley I. Sundquist, PhD

Reconstituting HIV Replication in a Test Tube

Reverse transcription and integration are key events in retrovirus replication and are also targets of successful anti-HIV therapies. Reverse transcription creates a double-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA genome, and integration archives that copy within the genome of the infected cell. However, studies of the mechanisms underlying these steps of the viral life cycle remain challenging because these processes are performed by viral core particles located deep within the infected cell cytoplasm and nucleus. Continue reading → Reconstituting HIV Replication in a Test Tube
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry | PI: Wesley I. Sundquist, PhD

A Potent, Long-lasting HIV Capsid Inhibitor

Reverse transcription and integration are key events in retrovirus replication and are also targets of successful anti-HIV therapies. Reverse transcription creates a double-stranded DNA copy of the viral RNA genome, and integration archives that copy within the genome of the infected cell. However, studies of the mechanisms underlying these steps of the viral life cycle remain challenging because these processes are performed by viral core particles located deep within the infected cell cytoplasm and nucleus. Continue reading → A Potent, Long-lasting HIV Capsid Inhibitor
Posted on | CategoriesBiochemistry / Fundamental Biology | PI: Wesley I. Sundquist, PhD & Adam Frost, PhD

Cellular Membrane Remodeling

Cells are continually severing, fusing, and reshaping their membranes. One of the essential cellular membrane remodeling systems is the ESCRT (Endosomal Sorting Complexes Required for Transport) pathway, whose cellular functions include endosomal membrane remodeling, membrane repair, enveloped virus budding, closure of the nuclear envelope, and cytokinetic abscission. Continue reading → Cellular Membrane Remodeling

Research Statement

The Sundquist lab studies the cellular, molecular and structural biology of retroviruses, particularly HIV, and the roles of the ESCRT pathway in cell division and the abscission checkpoint. Major projects in our lab include studies of:

1) ESCRT pathway functions and regulation in cell division and cancer

2) HIV budding

3) HIV capsid structure, function and restriction, particularly by the TRIM5α system

4) Designed enveloped protein nanoparticles

Our approaches include NMR, EM, crystallographic and computational studies of viral complexes, identification and biochemical analyses of the interactions between viral components and their cellular partners, and genetic analyses of viral and cellular protein functions.