Our Science – KewalRamani Website

Vineet N. KewalRamani, Ph.D.

HIV DRP Retroviral Replication Laboratory Head, Model Development Section Senior Investigator Center for Cancer Research National Cancer Institute Building 535, Room 108C P.O. Box B Frederick, MD 21702-1201 Phone:   301-846-1249 Fax:   301-846-6777 E-Mail:   vineet.kewalramani@nih.gov

Biography

Dr. Vineet N. KewalRamani first developed an interest in retroviruses as an undergraduate in the University of Wisconsin at Madison. After choosing to pursue molecular biology as a career, he enrolled in the graduate program at the University of Washington in Seattle where he studied HIV molecular replication at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Upon completing his Ph.D. training in 1996, he received a fellowship from the Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation and a postdoctoral position from New York University where he examined HIV infection within an immunological context. While working in NYU, he joined in an effort to develop a mouse model for HIV replication using transgenic technologies. These studies provided the foundation for his group's current work at the National Cancer Institute. Today, his team investigates the role of host factors in HIV infection and the biology of HIV in animal models. HIV and other retroviruses hack the host organism's genetic program to propagate their code. They also rapidly evolve in the face of selective pressure. By illuminating how retroviruses co-opt host functions while evading antiviral drugs or immune responses, his lab seeks to develop new strategies to impede the dynamic viral program.

Dr. KewalRamani is the chair of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Earl Stadtman Virology Search Committee and was a co-organizer of the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory 37th annual meeting on Retroviruses held in May of 2012. He is a past chair of the NIH Norman Salzman Virology Scientific Committee. He has served on the editorial boards of Journal of Virology, PLoS ONE, Retrovirology, and Virology. He was tenured by the NIH in 2010.

Research

Examination of Virus-Host Interactions at Molecular, Cellular, and Animal Levels to Better Understand HIV Immunopathogenesis and the Development of Antiviral Resistance

The Model Development Section (MDS) seeks to translate basic research findings to develop model systems that more faithfully mimic human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection in vivo. These model systems will be used to investigate questions on viral transmission, viral pathogenesis, and the contribution of the host immune system in these processes. Each research project within the MDS commences with in vitro analyses of viral replication in transformed and primary cell systems. Many of these studies are then complemented by an in vivo component to extend the in vitro findings and explore questions that are only possible within an animal model.

Current projects in the MDS include:

(1) Mechanisms of dendritic cell-mediated HIV transmission with an emphasis on the role of DC-SIGN in this process.

(2) Developing model systems to examine HIV/SIV mucosal transmission and the role of immune system cells in this process.

(3) Identification of the restrictions to HIV replication in mouse and macaque immune cells with a goal to create improved mouse and macaque models to study HIV replication

(4) Macaque models to study the evolution of HIV resistance to antiviral therapy.

Please visit the MDS publications page to see our progress in these various research areas.

Visiting scientists, graduate students, or postdoctoral candidates interested in the possibility of performing research studies in the MDS should contact Dr. Vineet KewalRamani (vineet@mail.nih.gov). Information for other postdoctoral positions in the HIV DRP can also be found on the Recruitment web page.

This page was last updated on 2/20/2013.