Michael A. Belshan, Ph.D..

HOME | FACULTY INFORMATION

Michael A. Belshan, Ph.D.

Appointment(s) and Titles:

Assistant Professor, Medical Microbiology and Immunology, Creighton University
Faculty, Nebraska Center for Virology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE

Education:

B.S., 1993, Zoology, Iowa State University, Ames IA

Ph.D., 1999, Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and Microbiology, Iowa State University, Ames IA

Research and Professional Experience:

Postdoctoral Fellow, 2000-2005, Molecular Oncology, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis MO

Honors and Awards:

Research Interests:

My fundamental research interest is virus-host cell interactions, specifically related to the replication and pathogenesis of the lentivirus subfamily of retroviruses. Members of this subfamily include the human and simian immunodeficiency viruses (HIV and SIV, respectively). The focus of our work is to understand the interaction of viral components and the host cell environment by using a cell biology approach to obtain results that provide insights not only into mechanisms of virus replication and pathogenesis, but also the biology of cellular pathways. All the members of the diverse family of retroviruses have a common genomic structure and life cycle, yet they have evolved to infect a broad range of cell types in diverse species and elicit various pathologies. Our current research focuses on characterizing early events in HIV infection. A hallmark and critical feature of the pathology of lentiviruses is the ability to infect non-dividing cells. Productive infection of non-dividing cells by HIV requires active nuclear transport of the viral DNA to, and across the host cell nuclear membrane leading to viral dsDNA integration into the host genome. This process is mediated by a large nucleoprotein complex called the viral pre-integration complex (PIC). My lab is currently investigating the composition, assembly, and transport of both the HIV and SIV PICs. This area remains one of the least defined aspects of HIV replication and thus a novel and exciting area to study. The characterization of the pathway of PIC transport to the nucleus is a first step in the development of a new class of antiviral therapeutics.

Selected Publicatons:

Belshan, M., M.E. Harris, A.E. Shoemaker, T.J. Hope, and S. Carpenter. 1998. Biological characterization of rev variation in equine infectious anemia virus. J. Virol. 72:4421-4426.

Belshan, M., G. Park, P. Bilodeau, C. Martin Stoltzfus, and S. Carpenter. 2000. Binding of equine infectious anemia virus Rev to an exon splicing enhancer mediates alternative splicing and nuclear export of viral mRNAs. Mol. Cell Biol. 20:3550-3557.

Belshan, M., P. Baccam, J.L. Oaks, S. Murphy, J.L. Cornette, and S. Carpenter. 2001. Genetic and biological variation in equine infectious anemia virus Rev at different stages of clinical disease: Implications for virus persistence. Virology. 279:185-200.

Belshan, M. and L. Ratner. 2003. Identification of the nuclear localization signal of human immunodeficiency virus type 2 Vpx. Virology. 311:7-15.

Baccam, P., R.J. Thompson, Y. Li, W.O. Sparks, M. Belshan, K.S. Dorman, Y. Wannemuehler, J.L. Oaks, J.L. Cornette, and S. Carpenter. 2003. Subpopulations of equine infectious anemia virus Rev co-exist in vivo and differ in phenotype. J. Virol. 77:12122-31.

Links:

Department of Medical Microbiology and Immunology
2500 California Plaza • Omaha, Nebraska 68178 • (402) 280-2921