Current Research and Scholarly Interests
Dr. Greenberg's current interests are in pathogenic viruses that infect the GI tract, liver and respiratory tract. His primary focus is on molecular mechanisms of pathogenesis, viral determinants of protective immunity, the molecular basis of host range, virulence and tissue tropism, vaccine development, viral immunology, and epidemiology with specific emphasis on the role of enteric viruses in less developed countries. Some of the ongoing studies in the lab deal with the following questions:
(i)What rotavirus gene(s) code for host range restriction, virulence and immunity? These studies involve the use of genetic analysis and studies of humoral and cellular immunity.
(ii)What proteins and what regions of the rotavirus proteins code for neutralizing epitopes, cell fusion activity, viral receptors, protective immunity? These studies involve sequence analysis, site-specific mutagenesis, and expression of viral genes.
(iii)What host cell genes are regulated by rotavirus replication in vitro and in vivo. These studies focus on microarray analysis and cell biology.
(iv)What are the immune effector mechanisms that mediate protection from and resolution of rotavirus infection? These studies involve animal models, cell transfer studies, FACS analysis and transgenic mice.
(v)What are the mechanisms by which class I restricted CD8 T cells modulate HCV infection. These studies involve analysis of peripheral and liver infiltrating human T cells using intracellular cytokine and tetramer techniques.
(vi)What are the determinants of immunity to influenza following live and inactivated virus vaccination?
