BIOLOGICAL SCIENCE
FACULTY MEMBER
Dr. Fanxiu Zhu
Office: 207 Biology Unit I
| Office: | 850-644-6273 |
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| Lab: | 850-645-7695 |
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| Fax: | 850-644-0481 |
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| Mail code: | 4370 |
| E-mail: |
fzhu@bio.fsu.edu |
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Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Wuhan University, 1995
POSITIONS AVAILABLE for postdoctoral investigators, graduate students, and undergraduate students. E-mail Dr. Zhu at
fzhu@bio.fsu.edu.
Research and Professional Interests:
My lab studies Kaposi’s sarcoma–associated herpesvirus (KSHV), a newly identified human DNA tumor virus associated with several human malignancies, including Kaposi’s sarcoma, primary effusion lymphoma, and multicentric Castleman’s disease. Our research mainly focuses on how KSHV evades host innate immune responses. A greater attention has been concentrated on viral gene products that exert their functions at the very early stage of viral infection. I have found a viral protein, ORF45, which is expressed as an immediate early protein and is also present in the virion as a tegument protein, interacts with interferon regulatory factor 7 (IRF-7), and antagonizes host antiviral response. Currently, we are using various biochemical, genetic, genomic, and proteomic approaches to investigate the mechanism of ORF45 in viral immune evasion as well as other strategies that KSHV uses to evade host antiviral responses.
Selected Publications:
Zhu, F. X., J. M. Chong, L. Wu, and Y. Yuan. 2005. Virion proteins of Kaposi's
sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. J. Virol. 79:800-811.
Wang, Y., H. Li, M. Y. Chan, F. X. Zhu, D. M. Lukac, and Y. Yuan. 2004. Kaposi's
sarcoma-associated herpesvirus ori-Lyt-dependent DNA replication: cis-acting
requirements for replication and ori-Lyt-associated RNA transcription. J. Virol.
78:8615-8629.
Zhu, F. X., and Y. Yuan. 2003. The ORF45 protein of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated
herpesvirus is associated with purified virions. J. Virol. 77:4221-4230.
Lin, C. L., H. Li, Y. Wang, F. X. Zhu, S. Kudchodkar, and Y. Yuan. 2003. Kaposi's
sarcoma-associated herpesvirus lytic origin (ori-Lyt)-Dependent DNA
replication: identification of the ori-Lyt and association of K8 bZip protein with
the origin. J. Virol. 77:5578-5588.
Zhu, F. X., S. M. King, E. J. Smith, D. E. Levy, and Y. Yuan. 2002. A Kaposi’s
Sarcoma-associated herpesviral protein inhibits virus mediated induction of type
I interferon by blocking IRF-7 phosphorylation and nuclear accumulation. Proc.
Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 99:5573-5578.
Saveliev, A., F. X. Zhu, and Y. Yuan. 2002. Transcription mapping and expression
patterns of genes in the major immediate-early region of Kaposi's sarcoma-
associated herpesvirus. Virology 299:301-314.
Zhu, F. X., T. Cusano, and Y. Yuan. 1999. Identification of immediately early genes of Kaposi’s sarcoma herpesvirus. J. Virol. 73:5556-5567.
Sun, R., S.-F. Lin, L. Gradoville, Y. Yuan, F. Zhu, and G. Miller. 1998. A viral gene that activates lytic cycle expression of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 95:10866-10871.
Zhu, F. X., X. Li, F. Zhou, S.-J. Gao, and Y. Yuan. 2006. Functional characterization of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus ORF45 by BAC-based mutagenesis. J. Virol., in press.
Zhu, F. X., and Y. Yuan. 2006. Antagonism of host antiviral responses by Kaposi's sarcoma-associated Herpesvirus tegument protein ORF45. Submitted.
Postdoctoral Associates:
Kuang, Ersheng
Wu, Fayi
Graduate Students:
Gillen, Joseph
Liang, Qiming
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