E-Mail: mckeatj@rockefeller.edu
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Dr. McKeating is an expert in the processing of viral glycoproteins (gps) and their interactions with target cell molecules, such as CD81, a candidate receptor for hepatitis C virus. She completed her Ph.D. in virology at the Royal Free Hospital School of Medicine, University College London in 1985. Since then, she has been studying human immunodeficiency virus interaction with cells of the immune system, and was awarded the Fleming medal in 1997 for her work in this field. More recently, she has focused her attention on hepatitis C virus interaction(s) with the host. She is on the editorial board for Journal of General Virology, Aids Research and Human Retroviruses and has published over 70 articles in the field of virology. Dr. McKeating's group is developing a number of model systems to study gp-cell interactions and subsequent cell-cell and virus-cell fusion events with the goal of identifying receptor molecules. More recently, with the development of cell lines supporting full-length HCV replication, experiments have been initiated to study native gp processing, cellular localization and protein-protein interactions between the structural proteins in these cells. The major site of HCV replication is thought to be the liver, however, to begin to understand how HCV induces liver disease it is critical to know both the phenotype and lineage of the cells which support replication and the frequency of such infected cells within the liver. Dr. McKeating's group has developed a quantitative RT-PCR assay able to detect HCV RNA within a single cell. FACS sorting allows the isolation of single cells from a liver biopsy and identification of cells expressing HCV RNA. These studies will determine: the frequency of infected cells within a liver sample; the range of cellular viral RNA burden; and the proliferative status of an infected cell.
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