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Wayne L. Gray, Ph.D.
Professor, Department of Microbiology & Immunology Virology Research Interest: Molecular biology of Herpesviruses Ph.D., University of South Alabama Postdoctoral, Louisiana State University Medical Center at Shreveport Phone: (501) 686-5187 Research Description My laboratory is investigating varicella-zoster virus (VZV) molecular biology and pathogenesis and the development of improved varicella vaccines.VZV causes two distinct human diseases: varicella (chickenpox) and herpes zoster (shingles). Varicella, characterized by fever and vesicular skin rash, is a common disease of childhood. Following varicella, VZV establishes a life-long latent infection of the host nerve ganglia. Later in life, especially in the elderly, the virus may reactivate to cause shingles. VZV diseases may be severe and life-threatening for cancer and AIDS patients and for transplant recipients. In addition, many herpes zoster patients suffer from chronic pain associated with postherpetic neuralgia. A goal of my lab is to determine the molecular basis of VZV pathogenesis, latency, and reactivation. Genetic techniques and animal models are used to investigate the role of specific viral genes in acute and latent infection. My lab is also working to develop an improved varicella vaccine which will protect against VZV disease and will also prevent viral latency and reactivation. We are using recombinant DNA technology to develop live attenuated vaccines and evaluating the ability of these vaccines to induce effective immune responses and protective immunity. In addition, we are constructing and evaluating recombinant varicella vaccines that express antigens of other pathogens such as the AIDS virus. References Ward, T.M., Traina-Dorge, V., Davis, K.A., and Gray, W.L. (2008) Recombinant simian varicella virus vaccines expressing the respiratory syncytial virus antigens are immunogenic. Journal of General Virology, 89:731-740. Gray, W.L. (2004) Simian varicella: a model for varicella-zoster virus infections. Reviews in Medical Virology, 14:363-381. Gray,W.L., and Mahalingam, R. (2005) A cosmid-based genetic system for inserting mutations and foreign genes into the simian varicella virus genome. Journal of Virological Methods, 130:89-94. Ou, Y. and Gray, W.L. (2006) The simian varicella virus gene 28 and 29 promoters share a common USF binding site and are induced by IE62 transactivation. Journal of General Virology, 87:1501-1508. Gray, W.L., Davis , K., Ou, Y., Ashburn, C., Ward, T.M. (2007) The simian varicella virus gene 61 encodes a viral transactivator but is non-essential for in vitro replication. Archives of Virology, 152:553-563. Ou, Y., Traina-Dorge, V., Davis , K., Gray, W.L. (2007) R ecombinant simian varicella vaccines induce immune responses to simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV) antigens in immunized vervet monkeys. Virology, 364:291-300. Ou, Y., Davis, K.,Traina-Dorge, V., and Gray W. L. (2007) Simian varicella virus expresses a latency associated transcript that is antisense to ORF 61 (ICP0) mRNA in neural ganglia of latently infected monkeys. Journal of Virology, in press.
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