Gary Whittaker - Cornell Veterinary Medicine

Faculty

Gary R. Whittaker

Associate Professor of Virology

Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine
C4 127 Veterinary Medical Center
E-mail: grw7@cornell.edu
Phone: 607-253-4019

Ph.D. (Microbiology) University of Leeds, UK

Whittaker lab home page

Dr. Whittaker is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology and has been associated with the department since 1996. He received a bachelor's degree in Biochemistry, and his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Leeds University U.K - studying the molecular biology and biochemistry of equine herpesvirus. He obtained postdoctoral training at Yale University in the laboratory of Dr. Ari Helenius, studying the cell biology of influenza virus replication. Dr Whittaker's laboratory is focussed on the entry of influenza and coronaviruses into host cells and is funded by research grants from the American Lung Association and the National Institutes of Health.

Research Interests / Graduate Fields / Lab Members / Related Links / Selected References

Research Interests

Virus Entry. We are studying the cell biology of influenza and coronavirus, major pathogens of humans and a variety of animal species. Our work covers two main areas:

virus entry EM

Entry of influenza into cells
Influenza enters cells by receptor-mediated endocytosis, and is triggered for fusion and uncoating by the low pH environment of the endosome. We are studying the entry process in cells expressing dominant-negative forms of various cellular proteins, including dynamin and Rab GTPases and protein kinase C. In dynamin mutant cells, virus entry was arrested in long tubular extensions of the plasma membrane. We are also studying novel inhibitors of virus entry that may affect events needed for endocytosis and investigating differences in the route of entry between clinical and lab-adapted strains of the virus.

Entry of Coronaviruses
Coronaviruses are major cause of disease in several animal species and with the recent emergence of the SARS virus have become increasingly important as human pathogens. Our laboratory uses infectious bronchitis virus of chickens as a model to examine how coronaviruses in general enter cells—specifically what factors control receptor binding and envelope fusion.

Graduate Fields

Dr. Whittaker is a member of the following Graduate Fields:

Biochemistry, Molecular & Cell Biology
Comparative Biomedical Sciences
Microbiology
Pharmacology

Lab Members

Damon Ferguson, Technician - ad79@cornell.edu
Sandrine Belouzard, Postdoctoral Associate - sb398@cornell.edu
Michele Bialecki, Graduate Student - mab269@cornell.edu
Xiangjie Sun, Graduate Student - xs27@cornell.edu
Ikenna Madu, Graduate Student - im66@cornell.edu
Lisa McElroy, DVM/PhD Student - ljm35@cornell.edu
Andrew Regan, Graduate Student - adr32@cornell.edu
Shoshannah Roth, Graduate Students - slr29@cornell.edu
Rabia Aslam, Undergraduate Student - ra249@cornell.edu
Renata Shraybman, Undergraduate Student - rs357@cornell.edu

Related Links

Virology at Cornell - a compendium of teaching and related sites

Cornell University Program in Virology

Los Alamos Influenza Database

CDC Influenza Homepage

Influenza bibliography - NIMR

National Campaign for Influenza Prevention: Preventinfluenza.org

Intracellular trafficking of influenza virus: clinical implications for molecular medicine ---- (pdf file)

All the Virology on the WWW

Selected References

Sieczkarski, S.B. and Whittaker, G.R. (2002). Dissecting virus entry via endocytosis. J. Gen Virol. 83: 1535-1545. http://www.sgm.ac.uk/JGVDirect/18346/18346ft.htm

Sieczkarski, S.B. and Whittaker, G.R. (2002). Influenza virus can infect cells in the absence of clathrin-mediated endocytosis J Virol. 76: 10455-10464.

Sun, X. and Whittaker, G.R. (2003). Role for influenza virus envelope cholesterol in virus entry and infection. J. Virol. 77: 12543-12551.

Khor, R., McElroy, L.J.. and Whittaker, G.R. (2003). The ubiquitin-vacuolar protein sorting pathway is selectively required during entry of influenza virus into host cells. Traffic 4: 857-868.

Chu VC, Whittaker GR. (2004) Influenza virus entry and infection require host cell N-linked glycoprotein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 101:18153-18158.

Chu VC, McElroy LJ, Chu V, Bauman BE, Whittaker GR. (2006) The avian coronavirus infectious bronchitis virus undergoes direct low-pH-dependent fusion activation during entry into host cells. J Virol. 80:3180-3188.

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Last Revised on January 26, 2007