WFU Physics Colloquium

TITLE: The role of membrane fusion during viral infection

SPEAKER: Professor Keith Weninger,

TIME: Thursday Oct. 25, 2007 at 4:00 PM

PLACE: George P. Williams, Jr. Lecture Hall, (Olin 101)

During the process of infection, viruses must deliver their genetic material (DNA or RNA) to the interior of cells. The DNA or RNA of enveloped viruses is contained within a lipid bilayer membrane whose composition and structure is nearly identical to the membrane that defines the boundary of cells. A key step in many types of viral infection is the fusion of the viral membrane with the membrane of the target cell. We are investigating membrane fusion during cellular infection by influenza and by the mosquito borne virus, Sindbis. I will describe our fluorescence-based studies of viruses interacting with supported lipid bilayers as well as in vivo studies of the infection of living cells. Our experiments use real time single particle tracking techniques to determine the process of cell entry for individual viruses.