Assistant Professor

Contact Information:
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Office Fax: 318-675-5764

Education/Training:

Postdoctoral Study, Harvard Medical School

Postdoctoral Study, Cornell University

Ph.D., Microbiology, 2003, University of California, Davis

B.A., General Biology, 1997, Cornell University

Major Research Interests:  Human cytomegalovirus replication, cellular tumor suppressor pathways and virus-cell interactions

Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a widespread pathogen that infects most of the human population. While infection is typically asymptomatic, HCMV represents a dangerous opportunistic pathogen for people with compromised immune systems.  HCMV is also the most common viral infection present at childbirth, and frequently causes congenital defects.  During natural infection, HCMV can replicate within a variety of terminally differentiated cells, which at the time of viral entry are poorly suited to support viral DNA synthesis.  HCMV therefore modifies the cellular environment to promote its own replication, yet in doing so, the virus triggers high-level accumulation of at least two cellular tumor suppressor proteins, the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRb) and p53. Active pRb blocks the expression of genes necessary for cellular DNA synthesis, while p53 activity leads to cell arrest or programmed cell death (apoptosis).  My research has helped establish that UL97, a viral protein kinase encoded by HCMV, is required to inactivate the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor protein (pRb) during infection.  Meanwhile, HCMV impedes the expression of p53-induced genes and/or circumvents the consequences of their expression.  My research is concerned with the mechanisms by which viruses modify the host cell to promote their replication, with a particular focus on revealing the interplay between viral gene products and cellular tumor suppressor pathways during HCMV infection. 

Representative Publications:

Kamil JP and DM Coen. 2007. Human cytomegalovirus protein kinase UL97 forms a complex with the tegument phosphoprotein pp65. J Virol 81:10659-10668.

Hume AJ, Finkel JS, Kamil JP, Coen DM, Culbertson MR, and RF Kalejta. 2008. Phosphorylation of retinoblastoma protein by viral protein with cyclin-dependent kinase function. Science 320: 797-799.

Hamirally S*, Kamil JP*, Ndassa-Colday Y, Lin AJ, Jahng WJ, Baek, MC, Noton S, Simpson-Holley M, Silva LA, Knipe DM, Golan DE, Marto JA, and DM Coen. 2009. Viral mimicry of cdc2/cyclin-dependent kinase 1 mediates disruption of nuclear lamina during human cytomegalovirus nuclear egress. PLoS Pathogens 5 (1): e1000275. *contributed equally

Kamil JP, Hume AJ, Jurak I, Münger K, Kalejta RF, and DM Coen. 2009. Human papillomavirus E7 inactivator of  retinoblastoma family proteins complements human cytomegalovirus lacking UL97 protein kinase. Proc Natl Acad Sci, 106 (39): 16823-16828.