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Gauri R.
Nair, Postdoctoral Fellow
EDUCATION:
PhD. Biology, University of Pennsylvania, December 2006
M.S. Biotechnology, Pune University, Pune, India.
B.S. Microbiology, St. Xavier’s College, Mumbai, India.
RESEARCH INTERESTS:
My
primary research interests are associated with
pathogenic prokaryotes and viruses, and their
interaction with hosts. These include signaling
responses to the local host-derived signals as well as
the elucidation of the virulence pathway based on these
host signals and its relevance in the native
environment. For my doctoral dissertation, I worked on
the VirA/G two component sensing system in
Agrobacterium tumefaciens that is a critical
virulence determinant. We used genetic and biochemical
methods to identify diverse VirA signaling phenotypes
that contributed to our model of VirA function.
Together, my previous and current work has required the
use of a number of molecular biology and microbiology
laboratory techniques. I am presently a postdoctoral
fellow in the laboratory of Jeffrey DeStefano at the
University of Maryland. The research in this laboratory
focuses on HIV-1, the causative agent of Acquired Immuno
Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS) that results in the deaths of
millions worldwide. Our research interests revolve
around the interaction of HIV reverse transcriptase and
the nucleocapsid protein with their nucleic acid
substrates. Both these important HIV proteins are
targets for drug therapy.
PUBLICATIONS:
Peer Reviewed
Nair, G., Z. Liu and A. N. Binns. 2003.
Re-examining the role of the accessory plasmid pAtC58 in
the virulence of Agrobacterium tumefaciens strain
C58. Plant Physiol. 133:989-999
Manuscripts in press
Jeffrey J. DeStefano and Gauri R. Nair. 2007.
Novel aptamer inhibitors of human immunodeficiency virus
reverse transcriptase. Oligonucleotides
Manuscripts In
Preparation
The
Periplasmic Domain Of VirA Represses The Capacity Of The
Cytoplasmic Domain To Activate In Response To Phenols
Gauri R. Nair, Benjamin Wonjae
Rhee, Mark Jacobs, and Andrew N. Binns
Molecular Basis of the
ChvE-VirA interaction (working title) Fanglian He,
Gauri R. Nair, Lillian Hsu and Andrew N. Binns.
Dissertation
Novel Insights into vir Gene Regulation in
Agrobacterium tumefaciens. University of
Pennsylvania, 2006.
Hobbies:
Making
frequent trips to Trader Joe’s, books (I love the
company of a great book), outstanding cinema, music, Yo
Baby yogurt products, traveling around the world,
cooking for husband extraordinaire Rahul, friends and
family (cooking is a science too!)- I also write recipes
for my friends and love good wine. I am very fond of
animals especially dogs. My best buddy was my dachshund
Dash, the smartest, funniest, most loving dog in the
world.
Favorite
Links:
Food:
Leite’s
Culinaria
Healthy Recipes
Homestyle Indian
Recipes
Kerala
Gujarati
Parsi
Goa
Kashmir
General
Madhur Jaffrey at the BBC
Recipes from Whole Foods
Sports:
Indian
Cricket
Cricket
Charity:
Bono’s Red
Care2
Medecins
Sans Frontieres
Music:
WXPN
U2
Indian Classical Music
Al Stewart
Joe Satriani
Home &
Personal:
Kutch
Kerala
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