Robert Visalli Department Chair

Molecular biology of herpesviruses; herpesvirus pathogenesis; anti-herpesviral drugs

Current interests include:

1) understanding the mechanism by which herpesviruses package their DNA genomes and the discovery of antivirals that inhibit the packaging machinery,

2) determining the function of herpesvirus structural proteins that modulate "virus-to-cell" and "infected cell-to-cell fusion",

3) identifying viral genes involved in virulence, and

4) analysis of amino acid sequences involved in the targeting of viral proteins to specific locations. Molecular biology of herpesviruses; herpesvirus pathogenesis; anti-herpesviral drugs