Probing the Structural Topology of HIV-1 Virion Infectivity Factor (VIF): a Dissertation
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University of Massachusetts Medical School eScholarship@UMMS GSBS Dissertations and Theses Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences 2007-12-14 Probing the Structural Topology of HIV-1 Virion Infectivity Factor (VIF): A Dissertation Jared R. Auclair University of Massachusetts Medical School Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Follow this and additional works at: https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsbs_diss Part of the Life Sciences Commons, and the Medicine and Health Sciences Commons Repository Citation Auclair JR. (2007). Probing the Structural Topology of HIV-1 Virion Infectivity Factor (VIF): A Dissertation. GSBS Dissertations and Theses. Retrieved from https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/gsbs_diss/359 This material is brought to you by eScholarship@UMMS. It has been accepted for inclusion in GSBS Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of eScholarship@UMMS. For more information, please contact [email protected]. PROBING THE STRUCTURAL TOPOLOGY OF HIV-1 VIRION INFECTIVITY FACTOR (VIF) A Dissertation Presented By Jared R. Auclair Submitted to the Faculty of the University of Massachusetts Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Worcester In partial fulfillment of the requirement for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSPOHY December 14, 2007 Biochemistry and Molecular Pharmacology PROBING THE STRUCTURAL TOPOLOGY OF HIV-1 VIRION INFECTIVITY FACTOR (VIF) A Dissertation Presented by Jared R. Auclair The signatures of the Dissertation Defense Committee signifies completion and approval as to the style and content of the Dissertation. ________________________________________ Celia A. Schiffer Ph.D., Thesis Advisor ________________________________________ Mohan Somasundaran Ph.D., Thesis Advisor ________________________________________ Paul Clapham Ph.D., Member of Committee ________________________________________ Reuben Harris Ph.D., Member of Committee ________________________________________ C. Robert Matthews Ph.D., Member of Committee ________________________________________ Mary Munson Ph.D., Member of Committee The signature of the Chair of the Committee signifies that the written dissertation meets the requirements of the Dissertation Committee ________________________________________ Phillip Zamore Ph.D., Chair of Committee The signature of the Dean of the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences signifies that the student has met all graduation requirements of the school. ________________________________________ Anthony Carruthers, Ph.D., Dean of the Graduate School Biomedical Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program December 14, 2007 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to acknowledge all those who have helped me on my path to completing my graduate work. I would like to start by thanking my thesis research advisory committee: Dr. Phillip Zamore, Dr. Mary Munson, Dr. Mario Stevenson, and Dr. Mohan Somasundaran for keeping me on track and helpful discussions over the years. In particular, I would like to thank Phil and Mary for always challenging me to ask the right questions, critically think about my hypothesis, problem solve, and to design experiments that would address the question I was asking. In addition, to my thesis research advisory committee I would like to thank my dissertation examination committee: Dr. Phillip Zamore, Dr. Mary Munson, Dr. Paul Clapham, Dr. C. Robert Matthews, and Dr. Reuben Harris. I especially thank Dr. Harris for making the trip from Minnesota to serve as my external examiner. Finally, I thank Dr. Sean Ryder for his helpful discussions on peptide competition experiments and agreeing to serve as a back- up DEC committee member. The Schiffer lab has been instrumental in my success over the last 6 and half years. The supportive environment of the lab is second to none. I truly enjoyed coming to work every day, it has been a great place to work and I will miss coming in each day. When I first joined the lab I was the fifth person and we were still on the 7th floor of the medical school, now we have around 15 people in the lab which is a sign of the supportive environment created by Dr. Schiffer. I would like to thank both Alex and Van, two undergraduate students, for there help with my project and giving me the opportunity to teach them. Thank you to Dr. Moses Prabu for critically reading drafts of this thesis iv and for always making lab fun and interesting. Thank you Madhavi Nalam for helping me map my cross-linking data onto the theoretical HIV-1 Vif models in Chapter I. In addition, I would like to thank Claire Baldwin for critically reading this thesis. Finally, thanks to Shiven Shandilya for discussions on HIV-1 Vif and his help in advancing the HIV-1 Vif project as a whole. A few people in the lab and Biochemistry department I would like to thank specifically. First, I would like to thank Tiffanie Covello for being a great friend, helping keep me organized, and just making my job easier in general. Karen Welch has been an amazing friend and extremely supportive over the last six plus years. She has always been there for me professional and personal; going to work without her around will not be the same. Along with many other things, I will miss Karen, Ellen, and I’s Weenie Wednesdays. I also cannot even begin to express my thanks to Ellen Nalivaika. She has always been one of my biggest supporters, and over the years we have become really great friends. There are few people in the world who understand and know me as well as she does and I’m truly grateful for that because without her, getting through graduate school would not have been as fun and it would have been much more difficult. I’ll be sending many emails with my brain-dead calculation questions! Of course, I have to thank all my great friends for their support and putting up with me and my “moods” over the last six years. Jenn Murzycki, a former labmate, has been a great friend and without her I could not have done this. Coffee breaks with Dianne Schwarz helped keep me sane over the years and she is one of my closest friends from graduate school. Thanks to Melonnie Furgason for listening to me complain, we v share a common bond of torturous projects, and for critical reading my thesis. Thanks to my bowling friends (Kapil, Evan, Dan, Mike, Jay, and Steve) without our weekly bowling league graduate school just would not have been the same. In addition to weekly bowling, Wednesday night get togethers with Jes, Chris, Crytal and Dave also helped keep me sane through this whole process. They are some of my oldest friends and I appreciate all the support they have given me; I would truly do anything for them. I do not even know where to begin in thanking both Dr. Celia Schiffer and Dr. Mohan Somasundaran. Celia has been an amazing mentor who has given me every opportunity to succeed. I’m most grateful for her support both scientifically and personally and faith in me. She has always given me all the tools I need to be successful and has taught and allowed me to guide my own research. She not only has been a great mentor but colleague and friend. Mohan is the person I have known the longest at UMass, and he is responsible for sparking an excitement in me for research during my senior year at WPI that persists to this day. Without his support and guidance I could not have done this! I not only consider him an amazing mentor, but an amazing person and friend! Finally, I would like to thank my family for without there love and support I could have never done this. My Mom and Dad have always been supportive of everything I do; even this crazy thing called graduate school. They have given me the tools and drive to be successful and I’m proud to be their son. I thank my sister, Heather, and my brother, Tyler, for all their support as well. I know that I have not always been the easiest person to get along with but regardless they have always been there for me. I looking forward to vi sharing many more of life’s adventures with them; and I’m always here for them no matter what. I also would like to thank my cousin Madeleine for all her support over the years; I could not have done this without her support as well. I thank my grandparent’s for their support as well; just knowing they are thinking of me helped me through some tough times. I also thank Mr., Mrs., and Adam Grabowski for their support in my quest to get a Ph.d.; and for raising an amazing woman, Melissa. I thank my wife, Melissa, for all her love and support over the years. You are my best friend and I am blessed to have you in my life. You know me better than anyone else, and I am so happy we were able to share this experience together. There is no doubt in my mind that I could not have done this without you. You are an amazing person and I love you with all my heart. I look forward to the next chapters in our life together and the experiences that lay ahead including the birth of our daughter, Madison. I cannot wait to meet you Madison and love you. Finally, as I finish these acknowledgements I remember all those family and friends who have died and take a moment to pause and remember them and thank them for helping make me the person I am today! vii ABSTRACT Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 (HIV-1), the virus that causes Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), attacks the immune system leaving patients susceptible to opportunistic infections that eventually cause death. Highly Active Antiretroviral Therapy, HAART, is the current drug strategy used to combat HIV.