Research Interests:
Pathogenesis of oncogenic viruses, virus-host interactions, host immunity to viruses, viral latency
Gammaherpesviruses such as Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) are associated with multiple diseases in humans, including lymphomas, carcinomas, and Kaposi’s sarcoma. Murine gammaherpesvirus 68 (gammaHV68) is genetically related to EBV and KSHV and causes lymphoma in mice, providing a small animal model for mechanistic in vivo studies of the virus/host relationship. Gammaherpesviruses evade the antiviral immune response by establishing a semi-dormant state called latency, facilitating life-long infection of the host. Work in our laboratory is focused on dissecting the central role of latency in viral pathogenesis. To facilitate these studies, we have generated mutant viruses that cannot lytically replicate but that may establish latency. Using these viruses, we are defining the viral genes that are expressed during latency and determining their specific roles in both the viral life cycle and in modulating host immunity. The long-term goal of these studies is to better understand the interplay between the antiviral immune response and latency, and to define how alterations in this relationship can result in the development of lymphoma.
reach me at: stibbe@ufl.edu, or phone 352-273-5628
