Kamel Khalili, PhD

The research program in my laboratory consists of three areas associated with neurodegeneration, neuroproliferation and neuroinflammation. In all three areas, the aim is to understand the biological events involved in control of neural cell function, growth and differentiation. To achieve this goal, we use human neurotropic viruses, including JCV and HIV, both of which greatly impact on the normal function of a variety of neural cells, as probes to determine the mechanism involved in the control of gene expression and signal transduction in the brain. As expression and replication of these pathogenic viruses in brain induces a broad range of reversible and irreversible injuries, the outcome of our studies provides fundamental information regarding the neuropathogenesis of HIV- and JCV-induced disorders, and offers excellent opportunities for the development of better diagnostic tests and effective therapeutic modalities. Our strategies are transformative in nature and employ a broad range of molecular and cellular techniques in in vitro studies, animal models and clinical samples. Our most current areas of research lie in understanding the effect of viruses on pathways involved in protein quality control, chromosomal instability upon virus infection of the CNS, pathways involved in neurodegeneration upon HIV infection and the neuroprotective role of glial cells, particularly oligodendrocytes in healthy and disease states, and the identification of cellular factors and signaling events that lead to uncontrolled proliferation of glial cells and the development of malignancies of the brain.