Skip to Content
Office: 3-750 BSBIowa City, IA 52242 Phone: +1 319 335 8021 Email: wendy-maury@uiowa.edu
Office/Lab: 3-750 BSBIowa City IA, 52242 Phone: +1 319 335 8021
Office/Lab: 3-701E BSBIowa City IA, 52242 Phone: +1 319 335 7613
BA, Botany (cum laude), Duke University, 1976MS, Botany, North Carolina State University, 1980PhD, Biology, University of Virginia, 1988Post-Doc, Intramural Research Training Associate-Laboratory of Molecular Microbiology, National Institutes of Health-NIAID, 1989Post-Doc, Staff Fellow-Laboratory of Persistent Viral Diseases, National Institutes of Health-NIAID, 1995
Primary: Microbiology
anti-viral therapy, Ebola, filovirus, lentivirus, Marburg, receptor, retrovirus, transcription, viral glycoprotein, virus entry
A goal of our research is to understand how enveloped viral glycoproteins bind to and mediate entry into permissive cells. An appreciation of the cellular attachment factors, receptors and subsequent internalization pathways used by a virus to enter cells provides an avenue for the development of antiviral therapies. To this end, my laboratory studies two related lentiviruses, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV-1) and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV) as well as the filoviruses, Ebolavirus and Marburgvirus. Our recent studies have helped to elucidate the endosomal pathways used by EIAV and filoviruses for entry and identified Ebola glycoprotein amino acids that are critical for Ebola virus internalization. In addition, we have recently identified a novel cell surface receptor for filoviruses. Several different approaches are currently being developed within the lab to block the entry of these viruses into target cells.
As a twist on this same theme, we have used the knowledge gained from our studies on virus glycoproteins to develop more efficient vectors for the delivery of therapeutic genes. A number of viral glycoproteins such as Ebola virus broadly enter a variety of different host cells and will readily incorporate onto the surface of viral vectors that can be used to deliver gene therapy. Through the identification of viral glycoprotein motifs that are important for mediating entry into cells, we are developing better viral vectors for genetic diseases.
Finally, in a related antiviral project on lentiviruses, the anti-HIV activities of constituents in Prunella vulgaris are being characterized. We have identified several closely related tannins found in Prunella vulgaris that are highly efficacious against HIV entry at low nanomolar concentrations. In collaborative efforts, synthetic analogs of these tannins have been identified that we are currently testing as effective antivirals and microbicides against HIV.