Patel Groups
Host Protein - Viral RNA Interactions
Viruses require host machinery to replicate. Although our immune system has several layers of defense mechanisms, often viral infection results in hijacking host cell machinery. A variety of host proteins recognize viral RNA molecules as a part of an innate immune system. On the other hand, often viral RNA recognize and employ host proteins to facilitate their replication and propagation. The main focus of our group is to understand, in fine detail, how viral components recognize DEAD-box helicases (e.g. DDX1, DDX3 and DDX5) and develop novel inhibitors that interfere with host-viral component interactions, resulting in inhibition of viral replication using a multidisciplinary approach.
Role of Focal Adhesion Proteins in Diseases
Our laboratory is also interested in investigating the role Zyxin and WTIP proteins that are primarily located at the focal adhesions but also able to travel to the nucleus. Zyxin is linked with cancer whereas WTIP plays a crucial role in maintaining normal activity of podocytes in kidney and acts as a transcription regulator. Our goal is to study how they mediate the transfer of signals from outside cell to inside, to understand their nuclear functions and to investigate their role in diseases such as cancer.