BIO

My name is Daniella Flores and I am from Miami, Florida. I am a junior at FSU in the biological science major. I am drawn to the idea of conducting research that could potentially lead to medical breakthroughs and understanding how viruses reach their replication centers within the nucleus of of living cells. I hope to pursue a career in medicine after graduating from Florida State.

HIV-1 Interaction with Nuclear Pore Complex

Abstract

Human immunodeficiency virus remains a major global health issue, with over 1.3 million people newly infected in 2022 alone. HIV is a virus that attacks vital cells in humans, weakening the immune system. While HIV has been studied for many decades, there are still gaps in this area of research. HIV infection of cells depends on its ability to enter the nucleus of non-dividing cells (Fig. 1A) and integrate a copy of its DNA into host cells. How HIV passes through the nuclear pore complex remains unclear (Fig. 1B). In this project, we look at HIV-1 interaction with the nuclear pore complex, which depends on the interactions between the viral capsid protein and nuclear pore-associated NUP358, NUP153 proteins. During my UROP project, I performed image analysis to determine the ability of HIV capsid to dock at the nuclear pore. Fluorescent imaging and processing of HIV-1 infected cells were conducted using ICY bioimage analysis. The results show that our method for docking determination works well and can report the block of HIV-NPC interactions by small molecule inhibitors PF74 and LEN. Future studies are being conducted to understand HIV nuclear entry and to develop additional inhibitors targeting this crucial step.

Keywords: Virus, HIV, Virology, Nuclear pore complex