It's beginning to look a lot like an RNA world! The observations by our lab and others have shown that small RNAs can regulate a genes expression at the transcriptional level. These findings suggest that the once held dogma that RNA functions as an information transfer medium between DNA and protein may not be complete. In fact it has become apparent that small RNAs can regulate the transcription of a gene via the targeting of silent state epigenetic marks and chromatin remodeling complexes to the genes promoter. Our lab is interested in determining whether this recently described mechanism is endogenous in human cells or a vestigial mechanism and specifically whether we can apply this mechanism to treat human disease's such as silencing HIV-1.

Ongoing projects in the Morris lab include: mechanistic determination of small RNA mediated transcriptional gene silencing (TGS) in human cells, post-transcriptional and transcriptional gene silencing of HIV-1 and human cell cancers, the characterization of both HIV-1 and cellular expressed miRNAs involved in HIV-1 infection and latency, and genetic based therapies to treating HIV-1 including the use of HIV-2 mobilization competent vectors, HIV-1 and 2 Sin vectors, and HIV-2 and FIV packaging systems.