Our research interests are in the molecular pathogenesis of HIV disease/AIDS and in uses of lentiviral vectors in human gene therapy. This page contains a brief summary of our research. Our main lab web site is: http://mayoresearch.mayo.edu/mayo/research/poeschla/index.cfm

Lentiviral Vectors; HIV Disease Pathogenesis

We investigate lentivirus biology to develop novel gene transfer vectors suitable for human gene therapy and to elucidate mechanisms of lentiviral (HIV) disease pathogenesis.

Lentiviruses such as HIV-1 differ from other retroviruses in their ability to infect non-dividing cells in vivo; for example, HIV-1 infects terminally differentiated tissue macrophages in vivo. Lentiviral vectors exploit this ability to achieve stable integration in non-dividing cells.

HIV-based and feline immunodeficiency virus (FIV)-based lentiviral vectors are being studied in our laboratory. Collaborations have also been developed with other investigators at Mayo and elsewhere to investigate lentiviral vector gene therapy. Several individuals in the laboratory are using the eye as a model system, with a focus on glaucoma gene therapy

We are interested in the molecular basis of HIV disease pathogenesis, and are investigating functional interatctions of integrase and other HIV-1 proteins with cellular factors (LEDGF/p75, HRP-2), and interactions of Gag proteins and viral RNA in genome packaging.