Investigators and Program Directors
Joachim Jaeger
Research Scientist, Wadsworth Center, Molecular Diagnostics
Associate Professor, School of Public Health, Biomedical Sciences
Dipl.Chem., Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz (1986)
D.Phil., Biozentrum, University of Basel (1991)
Fogarty International Research Fellow, Yale University, (1992)
University Research Fellow and Senior Lecturer, University of Leeds (1996)
Email: jjaeger@wadsworth.org
Research Interests
Our research program focuses on recognition processes and catalytic reactions involving nucleic acids. We are particularly interested in those proteins responsible for DNA or RNA replication in human and animal viruses. These pathogens include hepatitis C virus (HCV), human coronavirus (SARS), human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1), rhinovirus as well as other pathogens from the list of bioterrorsim category A agents
(http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/agentlist.asp). Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV), camelpox virus and foot-and-mouth-disease virus (FMDV) are the animal pathogens that are currently under investigation. Besides increasing our knowledge about the molecular basis of protein/RNA and protein/protein interactions in general, an understanding of the mechanisms of these biological processes in particular may aid in the development of therapeutic agents and lead to a cure for the diseases caused by these pathogens. The techniques we use to investigate catalysis, structure/function and evolutionary relationships of these proteins and macromolecular complexes involve X-ray single-crystal diffraction and solution scattering in conjunction with mutagenesis, steady-state and single-turn over kinetics and other complementary biophysical and biochemical techniques.
Replication is crucial to all organisms and requires the concerted actions of many proteins and enzymes. Once such a large multi-protein replication complex is assembled, this replicase is capable of synthesizing product strands with considerable speed while making very few mistakes. The concerted action among the proteins is poorly understood and not structurally characterized. Replicases from major human and animal pathogens (HCV, SARS HCoV, HRV, BVDV, FMDV etc.) are currently at the forefront of our research activities. We will continue our effort in isolating intact replicase complexes from viruses or replicons. Furthermore, we aim to establish conditions where replicase complexes can be re-constituted from recombinant, heterogeneously expressed materials.
Contact Information
Phone: 518-408-2225
Email: jjaeger@wadsworth.org