Current Faculty

Andrew, Alan T.
(Microbiology/Immunology)

Ayebo, Amadu D.
(Microbiology)

Bharathan, Narayanaswamy
(Molecular Virology)

Bharathan, Seema
(Microbiology)

Bi, Shundong
(Comparative/Human Anatomy)

Brenneman, William M.
(Zoology)

Browe, Andrew C.
(Physiology)

Butler, W. Barkley
(Cell Molecular)

Ciskowski, Gary J.
(Microbiology)

Gendron, Robert P.
(Ecology)

Hinrichsen, Robert D.
(Cell Molecular)

Irani, Vida
(Microbiology)

Jack, Martha J.
(General Biology)

Larkin, Jeffery
(Ecology)

Lord, Thomas R.
(Biology Education)

Luciano, Carl S.
(Virology)

Nealen, Paul M.
(Neurophysiology)

Newell, Sandra J.
(Plant Ecology)

Peard, Terry L.
(Biology Education)

Peterson, Russell L.
(Developmental)

Pistole, David H.
(Physiology)

Simmons, Thomas W.
(Environmental Health)

Winstead, Ray L.
(Biostatistics/Ornithology)

Interests

My primary area of interest is plant virology. Much of my work has involved the development of techniques for the establishment of plant viral infections in protoplasts or cells from which the walls have been enzymatically removed. Although some of this work has involved liposome fusion and related techniques, my main emphasis has been on electroporation, or gene transfer by high energy pulse, as a method for inoculating tobacco leaf protoplasts with tobacco vein mottling virus RNA in order to generate infected protoplasts for the study of viral RNA and protein metabolism. Qualitative and quantitative analyses of these components in infected cells support the hypothesis that viral proteins are translated as parts of a very large precursor molecule or polyprotein. A second interest is the use of recombinant DNA techniques to study the genetic structure of populations of white-footed mice (Peromyscus leucopus) living in different habitats. I have also become involved recently in the isolation and characterization of plasmids from Legionella pneumophila, the causative agent of Legionnaire's Disease and their use in linking clinical isolates of the organism with environmental sources.