Benedetti, Jacqueline, Ph.D.

Phone: (206) 667-3524
Fax: (206) 667-1535
E-mail: joverbau@fhcrc.org

LINK TO JULIE OVERBAUGH'S COMMUNITY OF SCIENCE WEB PAGE

CURRENT RESEARCH INTERESTS

Dr. Overbaugh's laboratory is analyzing retroviral evolution, transmission, and pathogenesis. The focus of these studies are three retroviruses, HIV, SIV, and FeLV, that evolve into T cell-tropic, cytopathic variants during the course of infection in their host, leading to AIDS or AIDS-like diseases. In each case, infection is initiated by a relatively avirulent, highly transmissible form of the virus. Over time, a diverse population of closely related variant viruses differing in their ability to infect certain cell populations emerge in the infected individual. The major goal of Dr. Overbaugh's research is to determine why some variants are more transmissible and why others are more cytopathic for lymphocytes and more pathogenic in the host. These studies include defining the patterns of genetic variation during retroviral infection and determining how particular changes in the virus influence cell tropism, immunogenicity, and cytopathicity. A major focus is on interaction of the viral envelope protein and proteins of the host cell, including the viral receptors and co-receptors. Additional studies include analyses of how genetic variation alters the efficacy of neutralizing antibodies in controlling virus replication.

Much of the HIV research in the lab is focused on populations in Africa because this is where the AIDS epidemic is most severe. The Overbaugh lab is analyzing HIV variants early in infection in Kenyan cohorts at high risk for HIV infection, including women and infants. The laboratory is part of a larger researcher team, including Drs. Kreiss, John-Stewart and Richardson in Seattle and several epidemiologists at the University of Nairobi.

Rousseau CM, Nduati RW, Richardson BA, Steele MS, John-Stewart G, Mbori-Ngacha DA, Kreiss JK, Overbaugh J. Longitudinal analysis of RNA of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) in breast milk and of its relationship to infant infection and maternal disease. J Infect Dis 187:741-7, 2003.

Overbaugh J, Bangham CRM. Sequence variation in retroviruses: the role of immune selection and host cell abundance. Science 292:1106-9, 2001.

Long EM, Martin HL Jr, Kreiss JK, Jackson S, Rakwar J, Lavreys L, Mandaliya K, Overbaugh J. Differences in HIV-1 transmission patterns in women and men. Nat Med 6:71-5, 2000.

Anderson MM, Lauring AL, Burns CC, Overbaugh J. Identification of a cellular cofactor required for infection by feline leukemia virus. Science 287:1828-30, 2000.