John Elder, PhD

Feline Immunodeficiency Virus. Our research centers around the molecular and biological characterization of feline immunodeficiency virus, FIV. This virus is a lentivirus similar to human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS in humans. FIV causes an AIDS-like disease in the domestic cat and thus provides a valuable small animal model for developing intervention therapies that may be employed to treat virus infections in both man and cat. Potential approaches include development of drug treatments through structure-based rational drug design as well as vaccine development using defined recombinant target antigens. Both approaches demand that we first understand the molecular structure of the virus as well as the virus life cycle. To this end, we have embarked on a series of projects to determine the molecular structure of certain viral enzymes as well as to define regulatory mechanisms that control FIV expression.