Victor R. DeFilippis
Dr. DeFilippis investigates the innate cellular immune response to viral infection and the mechanisms employed by viruses to counteract, tolerate, or circumvent these reactions. He is particularly interested in the pattern recognition receptors and downstream signaling pathways triggered during virus-cell contact that lead to synthesis of interferon and antiviral cytokines. While a great deal of information about the constituents of these pathways has emerged in recent years, the rate of discovery in this field has not slowed and much has yet to be characterized. Another major focus of his work is examination of the activity of interferon-stimulated antiviral genes and the specific viral genes and phenotypes that have arisen to withstand or inhibit these molecular responses. During infection, microbes are inevitably detected by cellular receptors that ultimately generate an antiviral state in the infected and surrounding cells and tissues. As a result, viruses cannot endure host occupation and undertake transmission to new hosts unless they possess strategies to deal with this phenomenon. The identification and description of these strategies as well as the characterization of antiviral cellular processes are major foci of Dr. DeFilippis' work.
Dr. DeFilippis examines questions surrounding related subjects using cytomegalovirus (CMV) of human and Rhesus macaque as well as West Nile virus and the newly re-emerging Alphavirus Chikungunya virus. His research employs conventional cellular, biochemical, and molecular methods but also newer high-throughput genomic techniques such as microarrays, small interfering RNA library screens, and recombinant lentivirus-mediated gene expression.
Biography
Victor DeFilippis is an assistant scientist at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. After receiving his bachelor's degree from the University of Montana he received a Master's degree in Biology from Wayne State University. He completed his Ph.D. examining virus evolution at the University of California, Irvine. He conducted his postdoctoral work at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute of OHSU.
Key References
DeFilippis, V.R., D. Alvarado, T. Sali, S. Rothenburg, and K Früh. Human cytomegalovirus induces the interferon response via the DNA receptor ZBP1 (under review).
DeFilippis, V.R., B. Robinson, T. Keck, S.G. Hansen, J.A. Nelson and K.J. Früh. 2006. Interferon regulatory factor 3 is necessary for induction of antiviral genes during human cytomegalovirus infection. J. Virol. 80:1032-1037.
DeFilippis, V.R. and K.J. Früh. 2005. Inhibition of interferon regulatory factor 3 activation by rhesus cytomegalovirus virions. J. Virol. 79:6419–6431.
DeFilippis, V.R. and L.P. Villarreal. 2001. Virus evolution. Chapter 13 in Fields Virology, edited by D.M. Knipe and P.M. Howley. Lippincott - Raven Publishers. Philadelphia.
