Quiet, Please: Silencing Retroviral DNAs

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Stephen Goff, Ph.D., Higgins Professor of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, department of biochemistry and molecular biophysics, department of microbiology and immunology, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Speaker bio(s)

Retroviral genomic DNAs contain transcriptional enhancers and promoters that allow for their replication in a wide range of tissue and cell types. Embryonic stem (ES) cells, however, characteristically suppress transcription of proviruses formed after infection by exogenous retroviruses (and also of most members of the vast array of endogenous retroviruses in the genome). Dr. Goff will describe the host machinery used to silence the murine leukemia viruses in ES cells, including DNA-binding zinc finger proteins and histone modifiers. He will present some recent work on the regulation of expression of these factors in ES cells. Finally, Dr. Goff will present new findings on the silencing of newly-synthesized, unintegrated retroviral DNAs that occurs in most cell types. These silencing mechanisms may be similar to those involved in the silencing of the latent pool of HIV-1 DNAs established in memory T cells of AIDS patients.

Dr. Goff has been a faculty member at Columbia in the department of biochemistry and molecular biophysics since 1981, and with a joint appointment in the department of microbiology and immunology since 1987. His current work is centered on the study of the retrovirus life cycle and the host restriction systems that inhibit virus replication. His lab has identified and characterized many cellular genes that play major roles in the life cycle of these viruses. He has been elected to membership in the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Medicine, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Academy of Microbiology, and is a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. 

Open to

Public

Host

Charles Rice, Ph.D.

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Justin Sloboda

Phone

(212) 327-7785

Sponsor

Justin Sloboda
(212) 327-7785
jsloboda@rockefeller.edu