NEPRC :: Ronald C. Desrosiers, PhD

Ronald C. Desrosiers, PhD

Director, New England Primate Research Center
Professor of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics,
Harvard Medical School
Chair, Division of Microbiology

Dr. Desrosiers' research seeks a better understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying viral pathogenesis through the use of monkey models of human viral diseases.

The Desrosiers laboratory uses simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) as a model for HIV-induced AIDS in humans. Dr. Desrosiers is elucidating the strategies used by SIV and HIV to evade recognition by host immune responses; these immune evasion strategies are what allow the continuous, unrelenting viral replication that is the hallmark of AIDS. Dr. Desrosiers also studies structure-activity relationships of the viral-encoded envelope proteins and the relative importance and functional contribution of the so-called auxiliary genes.

Dr. Desrosiers is interested in novel vaccine approaches for AIDS, particularly those that can elicit constitutively active immune responses to a persisting antigen. He is seeking a better understanding of the mechanisms of protective immunity elicited by live attenuated strains of SIV so that this knowledge can guide vaccine development efforts.

Dr. Desrosiers' laboratory is also developing use of rhesus monkey rhadinovirus (RRV) as a model for infection by human herpesvirus-8 (HHV-8; also known as the Kaposi sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, KSHV). A genetic system has been developed to allow study of the contribution of individual genes to viral replication, tropism, persistence, and pathogenesis.

Desrosiers, RC. Strategies used by human immunodeficiency virus that allow persistent viral replication. Nature Med. 1999; 5:723-725.

Desrosiers, RC, Sasseville, VG, Czajak, SC, Zhang, X, Mansfield, KG, Kaur, A, Johnson, RP, Lackner, AA, and Jung,JJ. A herpesvirus of rhesus monkeys related to the human Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus . J. Virol.1997, 71:9764-9769.

Johnson WE, Sanford H, Schwall L, Burton DR, Parren PW, Robinson JE, and Desrosiers RC. Assorted mutations in the envelope gene of simian immunodeficiency virus leads to loss of neutralization resistance against antibodies representing a broad spectrum of specificities. J Virol. 2003; 77:9993-10003.

Desrosiers RC. Prospects for a AIDS vaccine. Nat. Med. 2004; 10:221-223.

Evans DT, Bricker JE, Sanford HB, Lang S, Carville A, Richardson BA, Piatak M, Lifson JD, Mansfield KG, Desrosiers RC. Immunization of macaques with single-cycle simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) stimulates diverse virus-specific immune responses and reduces viral loads after challenge with SIVmac239. J Virol. 2005;79:7707-7720.

Koff WC, Johnson PR, Watkins DI, Burton DR, Lifson JD, Hasenkrug KJ,McDermott AB, Schultz A, Zamv TJ, Boyle R, and Desrosiers RC. HIV vaccine design: insights from live attenuated SIV vaccines.> Nat Immunol 2006; 7:19-23.

Bilello JP, Morgan JS, Damania B, Lang SM, and Desrosiers RC. A Genetic system for rhesus monkey rhadinovirus: Use of recombinant virus to quantitate antibody-mediated neutralization. J Virol 2006; 80:1549-1562.