Richard Lu

Dr. Richard Lu is molecular virologist and staff scientist in the laboratory of Dr. Hendrik Streeck.   He’s been captivated by the arms race between pathogens and their hosts ever since he saw the Andromeda Strain.  As such he pursued biochemistry and virology as areas of research.  He was mentored by Dr. Alan Engelman and wrote his dissertation on the effects of HIV-1 Integrase point mutations on interactions with viral and cellular proteins and received his PhD in Virology from Harvard University (Graduate School of Arts and Sciences) in 2005.  He was then a post doctoral research fellow in the laboratory of Dr. Marcia B Goldberg at Massachusetts General Hospital where he studied the interplay of the bacterium Shigella flexneri with mammalian host proteins.

Currently Dr. Lu is investigating the immunogenicity of glycosylated proteins.  Furthermore, he is measuring the affects of knocking down cytotoxins in peripheral blood mononuclear cells on HIV-1 infection.   These studies will provide a better understanding of the immune response to HIV-1 infection and could provide new areas of focus in the design of HIV-1 vaccines.

AWARDS and HONORS

  • Ruth L. Kirschstein Nation Research Service Award, 2007
  • Postdoctoral Training, institutional training grant, Harvard Medical School, 2006
  • Predoctoral Training, institutional training grant, Harvard Medical School, 1997

PUBLICATIONS

  • Lu R and Goldberg MB.  Bacterial exploitation of host cell signaling.  Sci Transl Med.  2010; 2 (51): 51ps48
  • Belshan M, Schweitzer CJ, Donnellan MR, Lu R and Engelman A.  In vivo biotinylation and capture of HIV-1 matrix and integrase proteins.  J Virol. Methods.  2009; 159 (2): 178-84.
  • Daelemans D, Lu R, De Clereq E and Engelman A.  Characterization of a replication-competent, integrase-defective human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)/simian virus 40 chimera as a powerful tool for the discovery and validation of HIV integrase inhibitors.  J Virol. 2007; 81: 4381-4385.
  • Rahman S*, Lu R*, Vandegraaff N, Cherepanov P, and Engelman A.  Structure-based mutagenesis of the integrase-LEDGF/p75 interface uncouples a strict correlation between in vitro protein binding and HIV-1 fitness.  Virology. 2007;357(1): 79-90. (*authors contributed equally to the work)
  • Lu R, Vandegraaff N, Cherepanov P, and Engelman A.  Lys-34, dispensable for integrase catalysis, is required for preintegration complex function and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication.  J Virol.  2005;79:12584-91.
  • Lu R, Ghory HZ, and Engelman A.  Genetic analyses of conserved residues in the carboxyl terminal domain of human immunodeficiency virus type I integrase. J Virol.  2005;79:10356-68.
  • Lu R, Limón A, Ghory HZ, and Engelman A.  Genetic analyses of DNA binding mutants in the catalytic core domain of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase. J Virol. 2005; 79:2493-2505.
  • Lu R, Limón A, Devroe E, Silver PA, Cherepanov P, and Engelman A. Class II integrase mutants with changes in putative nuclear localization signals are primarily blocked at a postnuclear entry step of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication. J Virol. 2004;78:12735-46.
  • Lu R, Nakajima N, Hofmann W, Benkirane M, Jeang KT, Sodroski J, and Engelman A. Simian virus 40-based replication of catalytically inactive human immunodeficiency virus type 1 integrase mutants in nonpermissive T cells and monocyte-derived macrophages. J Virol. 2004;78:658-68.
  • Limón A, Nakajima N, Lu R, Ghory HZ, and Engelman A. Wild-type levels of nuclear localization and human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication in the absence of the central DNA flap. J Virol. 2002;76:12078-86.
  • Limón A, Devroe E, Lu R, Ghory HZ, Silver PA, and Engelman A. Nuclear localization of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 preintegration complexes (PICs): V165A and R166A are pleiotropic integrase mutants primarily defective for integration, not PIC nuclear import. J Virol. 2002;76:10598-607.
  • Nakajima N, Lu R, and Engelman A. Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 replication in the absence of integrase-mediated DNA recombination: definition of permissive and nonpermissive T-cell lines. J Virol. 2001;75:7944-55.

PATENTS

  • Engelman A, Lu R, Hofmann W, and Sodroski J, inventors; Episomally replicating lentiviral vectors. US patent 6,808,923. 2004 Oct 26.

 

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