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Ronald C. Montelaro, Ph.D.
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Professor
9016 BST3
3501 Fifth Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15261
Phone: (412) 648-8869
Fax: (412) 624-4440
E-mail: rmont@pitt.edu
Lab Phone:
Lab Website
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Biography
Dr. Montelaro is a Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics of the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with secondary appointments in the Department of Infectious Diseases and Immunology (Graduate School or Public Health) and the Department of Medicine Division of Infectious Diseases. He serves as the Co-Director of the Center for Vaccine Research and the Director of the Peptide Synthesis Core. He received his PhD in Biochemistry in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. His research interest is in viral immunology and vaccine development, especially as related to AIDS, emerging diseases, and biodefense.
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Research
The primary focus of the Montelaro lab is to elucidate the intricate interactions between viral pathogens and host immune responses to determine the mechanisms by with host immunity contributes to protection and disease and to serve as a basis for the development of effective vaccines. A particular interest of the lab is to develop effective strategies to overcome the challenge of natural viral antigenic variation that has evolved as a common complication to the development of effective vaccines to important viral diseases, including those related to biodefense and emerging infectious diseases. Systems currently under investigation include HIV-1 and related animal lentiviruses (SHIV, SIV, and EIAV), dengue virus, and influenza virus. Studies in these systems include investigation of the nature and role of antigenic variation during infection, the development of novel assays to characterize virus-specific innate, humoral, and cellular immune responses, and the design of engineered immunogens for effective vaccination against variant strains of a particular virus. In addition to these vaccine related studies, the lab also maintains a research program to develop novel de novo antimicrobial peptides (engineered cationic amphipathic peptides, or eCAPs) that can be used to inactivate a diverse spectrum of bacteria or enveloped viruses in a prophylactic or therapeutic treatment modalities.
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Selected Publications
- Zhang B, Montelaro RC. 2009 "Replication of equine infectious anemia virus in engineered mouse NIH 3T3 cells" J Virol. 83:2034-7. | Abstract
- Fidalgo-Carvalho I, Craigo JK, Barnes S, Costa-Ramos C, Montelaro RC. 2009. "Characterization of an equine macrophage cell line: Application to studies of EIAV infection" Vet Microbiol. 136:8-19. | Abstract
- Brindley MA, Zhang B, Montelaro RC, Maury W. 2008. "An equine infectious anemia virus variant superinfects cells through novel receptor interactions" J Virol. 82:9425-32. | Abstract
- Sun, C., Zhang, B., Jin, J., and Montelaro, R. 2008. "Binding of equine infectious anemia virus to the equine lentivirus receptor-1 is mediated by complex discontinuous sequences in the viral envelope gp90 protein" J. Gen. Virol. 89: 2011-2019. | Abstract
- Yang, W., Qiu, C., Biswas, N., Jin, J., Watkins, S., Montelaro, R., Coyne, C., and Wang, T. 2008. "Correlation of tight junction-like distribution of claudin-1 to the cellular tropism of HCV" J. Biol. Chem. 283: 8643-8653. | Abstract
- Pawar, S., Mattila, J., Sturgeon, T., Lin, P., Narayan, O., Montelaro, R., and Flynn, J. 2008. "Comparison of the effects of pathogenic simian human immunodeficiency virus strains SHIV89.6P and SHIV-Ku2 in cynomolgus macaques" AIDS Res. Human Retroviruses 24: 643-654. | Abstract
- Tagmyer, T., Craigo, J., Cook, S., Issel, C., and Montelaro, R. 2008. "Envelope peptide determinants of vaccine protection and the effects of sequence variation on immune recognition" J. Virol. 82:4052-4063. | Abstract
- Zhang, B., Sun, C., Cascio, M., Montelaro, R. 2008. "Mapping of equine lentivirus receptor-1 residues critical for EIAV envelope binding" J. Virol. 82: 1204-1213. | Abstract
- Craigo, J., Zhang, B., Barnes, S., Tagmyer, T., Cook, S., Issel, C. and Montelaro, R. 2007. "Envelope variation as a primary determinant of lentiviral vaccine efficacy" Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 104: 15105-15110. | Abstract
- Jin, J., Sturgeon,T., Chen, C., Watkins, S., Weisz, O., and Montelaro, R. 2007. "Distinct assembly and budding pathways utilized by EIAV and HIV-1 revealed by bimolecular fluorescence complementations assays" J. Virol. 81:11226-11235. | Abstract
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