Harris Lab

April
Graduate student Jiayi Wang will receive the Uta von Schwedler Prize for Retrovirology at the Cold Spring Harbor Retroviruses Meeting in May. This award honors the accomplishments of a distinguished graduate student as they complete a dissertation in retrovirology. Congratulations Jiayi!

March
Please welcome our new graduate students joining the lab: S. Arad Moghadasi, Amanda Rieffer, and Sofia Nóbrega de Moraes. Dr. Harvijay Singh from the Indian Institute of Technology also joined as a new post-doctoral fellow! Check out their lab profiles!

The fourth annual Pi Day Puzzle created by Dr. Mike Carpenter was solved by Diako Ebrahimi and Rena Levin-Klein. Enjoy your pi(e)!

Congratulations to graduate student Adam Cheng for receiving the 2019 Beatrice Z. Milne and Theodore Brandenbug Award. This award recognizes exceptional thesis research by graduate students in the basic biomedical sciences.

New Publication: Postdoc Dr. Terumasa publishes a new manuscript in ACS Infect Diseases titled, "Evolved Proteins Inhibit Entry of Enfuvirtide-Resistant HIV-1".

New Publication: Postdoc Dr. Carpenter publishes a new paper titled, "A lentivirus-based system for Cas9/gRNA expression and subsequent removal by Cre-mediated recombination" in Methods.

February
New Publication: Gabriel Starrett published "Polyomavirus T Antigen Induces APOBEC3B Expression Using an LXCXE-Dependent and TP53-Independent Mechanism" in mBio.

January
Please welcome visiting graduate student Pieter Roelofs to the lab! He's working on his Ph.D. in Women's Cancers from the Radboud Institute for Molecular Sciences.

New Publication: Brett Anderson publishes "Natural APOBEC3C variants can elicit differential HIV-1 restriction activity" in Retrovirology.

Graduate student Adam Cheng won the 2018 MICaB Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Congratulations!

December
Check out the recent News and Views by Malim and Pollpeter that accompanies the Cheng et al. article in Nature Microbiology.

November
New Publication: Postdoc Dr. Salamango publishes a new paper titled, "APOBEC3H Subcellular Localization Determinants Define Zipcode for Targeting HIV-1 for Restriction" in Molecular Cellular Biology.

New Publication: Graduate student Adam Cheng publishes a new manuscript in Nature Microbiology, titled "Epstein–Barr virus BORF2 inhibits cellular APOBEC3B to preserve viral genome integrity". Check out these news features on KARE 11 and UMN CBS on our recent EBV publication!

October
New Publication: Dr. Diako Ebrahimi publishes a new study in Nature Communications titled, "Genetic and mechanistic basis for APOBEC3H alternative splicing, retrovirus restriction, and counteraction by HIV-1 protease".

New Publication: Recent graduate student Dr. Amber St. Martin publishes a manuscript in Nucleic Acids Research titled, "A fluorescent reporter for quantification and enrichment of DNA editing by APOBEC-Cas9 or cleavage by Cas9 in living cells."

September
Congratulations to Dr. Amber St. Martin for successfully defending her PhD thesis titled, "Improved Base Editing Technologies with Novel Editors and Assays."

Dr. Dan Salamango wins best postdoc talk from this year's BMBB retreat!

Dr. Nadine Shaban wins best postdoc talk on the biochemical and structural mechanisms of APOBEC3H at the annual West Coast Retrovirus Meeting!

Jiayi Wang wins the PLOS Pathogens Journal Best Presentation Prize on her poster titled “Evaluating Endogenous APOBEC3H as an HIV-1 Transmission Barrier."

August
New Publication: Postdoc Dr. Salamango publishes a new paper in Journal of Molecular Biology titled, "APOBEC3B Nuclear Localization Requires two Distinct N-Terminal Domain Surfaces."

July
Congratulations to Dr. Amy Molan for successfully defending her PhD thesis titled, "Post-translational Regulation of A3B and HIV-1 Restriction by A3G in Myeloid Cell Line THP-1."

June
Congratulations to Dr. Christopher Richards for successfully defending his PhD thesis titled, "HIV-1 Counteraction Mechanisms Versus APOBEC3-mediated Restriction."

New Publication: Graduate student Jiayi Wang publishes a new manuscript in Journal of Virology titled, "Simian Immunodeficiency Virus Vif and Human APOBEC3B Interactions Resemble Those between HIV-1 Vif and Human APOBEC3G."

May
New Publication: Postdoc Dr. Terumasa Ikeda publishes a manuscript in PLoS Pathogens titled, "HIV-1 adaptation studies reveal a novel Env-mediated homeostasis mechanism for evading lethal hypermutation by APOBEC3G."

March
New Publication: Graduate student Matthew Jarvis publishes a new manuscript on APOBEC mutation signatures in JNCI Cancer Spectrum.

Congratulations to Chris Richards, recipient of the 2018 Beatrice Z. Milne and Theodore Brandenburg Award. This award recognizes exceptional thesis research by graduate students in the basic biomedical sciences.

Dr. Diako Ebrahimi was awarded a New Investigator Scholarship and gave an oral presentation at the 2018 Conference on Retroviruses and Opportunistic Infections.

January
Congrats to graduate student, Jennifer McCann, for receiving the Center for Genome Engineering Travel Award.

New Publication: Dr. Nadine Shaban publishes crystal structure of A3H in complex with double-stranded RNA in Molecular Cell titled, "The Antiviral and Cancer Genomic DNA Deaminase APOBEC3H Is Regulated by an RNA-Mediated Dimerization Mechanism."

November
MICaB graduate student Adam Cheng wins the prestigious Golden Pipetman Award.

Congratulations to Dr. Diako Ebrahimi for obtaining a Collaborative Development Project grant from the HIVE Center for investigating the molecular mechanisms of HIV/APOBEC interaction in different human populations.

Dr. Reuben Harris has been honored as an AAAS Fellow for his contributions to the understanding of mechanisms mutagenesis in evolution, in host-cell defense against viruses, and cancer development.

Winston Guo receives UMN UROP for undergraduate research!

Prof. Reuben Harris presents the 6th Annual David Derse Memorial Lecture at NCI-Frederick.

New Publication: Graduate student, Amy Molan, publishes new paper on the effect of APOBEC3B residues in HIV-1 replication in Virology titled, "APOBEC3B lysine residues are dispensable for DNA cytosine deamination, HIV-1 restriction, and nuclear localization."

October
A breakthrough on the structural and functional understanding of APOBEC3H-RNA complexes by Shaban et al. is available for preview at Cell Sneak-Peek and bioRxiv.

Congratulations to Dr. Michael Carpenter on winning the best poster award for a postdoctoral scholar at the 2017 UMN-UW Virology Training Grant Symposium in LaCrosse, Wisconsin!

September
Congratulations to Artur Serebrenik on winning the best poster award at the 2017 US-EU Conference on Endogenous DNA Damage in Udine, Italy!

Congratulations to Dr. Teneale Stewart on receiving a Susan G. Komen Postdoctoral Fellowship Grant. This will allow her to further study molecular mechanisms of APOBEC3B regulation in breast cancer and to identify new treatment strategies.

July
Congratulations to PhD student Brett Anderson who just successfully defended his thesis titled, "APOBEC3 Transcriptional Regulation and HIV-1 Restriction in T Lymphocytes."

Congratulations to PhD student Gabriel Starrett who just successfully defended his thesis titled, "Converging functions of APOBEC enzymes in viral infections and cancer."

May
Lab members Jiayi Wang, Dr. Diako Ebrahimi, and Dr. Terumasa Ikeda attended the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meeting on Retroviruses. Diako gave a talk on APOBEC3H variation in humans and Jiayi gave a talk on the SIV Vif-human APOBEC3B interaction, while Teru presented a poster on opossum APOBEC1.

Lab members Amy Molan and Dr. Diako Ebrahimi gave oral presentations at the local Institute for Molecular Virology Annual Symposium and other lab members, Christopher Richards, Gabriel Starret, Jiayi Wang, Dr. Terumasa Ikeda, and Dr. Dan Salamango presented posters.

April
New Publication: Dr. Terumasa Ikeda publishes new report showing capacity of opossum APOBEC1 to restrict retroviruses and retrotransposons in Science Reports titled, "Opossum APOBEC1 is a DNA mutator with retrovirus and retroelement restriction activity."

March
Congratulations to Dr. Reuben Harris for being named a Distinguished McKnight University Professor for the University of Minnesota! The Distinguished McKnight Professorship program recognizes outstanding faculty members who have recently achieved full professor status. Recipients hold the title Distinguished McKnight Professor for as long as they remain at the University of Minnesota.

January
New Publication: Graduate student, Chris Richards, publishes new paper on HIV-1 Vif-derived peptides in JMB titled, "Reassessing APOBEC3G Inhibition by HIV-1 Vif-Derived Peptides."

New Publication: Graduate student, Gabriel Starrett, publishes new paper on mutation signatures in Merkel cell carcinoma in mBio titled, "Merkel Cell Polyomavirus Exhibits Dominant Control of the Tumor Genome and Transcriptome in Virus-Associated Merkel Cell Carcinoma."

December
New Publication: Harris and Aihara groups publish the first structures of APOBEC3A-ssDNA and APOBEC3B-ssDNA in NSMB.

Gabriel Starrett wins the 2017 UMN MICaB Outstanding Graduate Student Award. Congratulations Gabe!

November
Dr. Reuben Harris recognized by UMN AHC Academies for Excellence. Congratulations!

October
New Publication: Emily Law and colleagues demonstrate the role of APOBEC3B in cancer drug resistance in the article "The DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3B promotes tamoxifen resistance in ER-positive breast cancer" published in Science Advances.

September
New Publication: A new paper by PhD. student Gabriel Starrett titled, "The DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3H haplotype I likely contributes to breast and lung cancer mutagenesis," published in Nature Communications reveals a novel source of mutation in cancer. Links for press release: UMN News, Nature Communications

Welcome to our newest lab member, Dr. Rena Levin-Klein, who has joined the lab and will be working on non-canonical APOBEC activities.

Dr. Reuben Harris gave a keynote presentation at the Conference on Nucleic Acids and Immunity in Brno, Czech Republic.

August
Welcome to our newest lab member, Dr. Teneale Stewart, who has joined the lab and will be working on APOBEC regulation.

The Harris Lab is enjoying the last days of summer by celebrating at our annual lab party. Congratulations to Emily Law for winning the bowling tournament!

July
New Publication: Ph.D. student Gabriel Starrett along with our collaborators Brandy Verhalen and Mengxi Jiang at the University of Alabama-Birmingham recently published the article "Functional upregulation of the DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3B by polyomaviruses," in the Journal of Virology.

Congratulations to Team A (Brett Anderson, Adam Cheng, Chris Richards, Brett Anderson, Dan Salamango, and Gabe Starret) for coming in second place at the First Annual Scientific Olympics!

June
New Publication: Dr. Nadine Shaban and our collaborators in the Aihara Lab published a paper titled, "1.92 Angstrom Zinc-Free APOBEC3F Catalytic Domain Crystal Structure," in the Journal of Molecular Biology.

Dr. Nadine Shaban and Ph.D. student Brett Anderson presented original research at the 2016 NIH Structural Biology Related to HIV/AIDS Meeting in Bethesda, MD.

May
Congratulation to Dr. Daniel Salamango, who was awarded a 3-year postdoctoral fellowship from the Minnesota Craniofacial Research Training (MinnCResT) Program for his proposal on the role of APOBEC3B in HPV-induced cancers.

New Publication: The Harris lab and collaborators published the article, "Mutation processes in 293-based clones overexpressing the DNA cytosine deaminase APOBEC3B," in PLOS One.

Dr. Terumasa Ikeda gave a talk titled, "RT mutations fortify an Env-dependent mechanism that Vif-null HIV-1 can use to escape restriction by APOBEC3G," at the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meeting on Retroviruses. Other lab members, Brett Anderson, Adam Cheng, Diako Ebrahimi, and Chris Richards also presented posters.

March
New Publication: Former and current Ph.D. students Brandon Leonard and Gabriel Starrett co-authored an article entitled, "APOBEC3G expression correlates with T cell infiltration and improved clinical outcomes in high-grade serous ovarian carcinoma," published in Clinical Cancer Research.

February
Congratulations to Jiayi Wang, who received the Interdisciplinary Doctoral Fellowship from the Graduate School for her proposal titled, "Delineating a Novel Barrier to HIV Transmission."

Graduate students, Brett Anderson and Jiayi Wang, presented posters at the 2016 Conference on Opportunistic Infections in Boston, MA.

January
Dr. Reuben Harris lectured at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.  (Link)

December 10, 2015
Dr. Reuben Harris talks to ecancertv at SABCS 2015 about his research on APOBEC3B and its correlation to drug resistance in breast cancer. His full presentation at SABCS can be seen here. (Video 1, Video 2, News Brief)

December 8, 2015
Congratulations to Jenny McCann for winning the AACR Susan G. Komen Scholar-in-Training Award at the San Antonio Breast Cancer Symposium. Jenny McCann and Emily Law presented posters at this meeting and Dr. Harris gave a talk.

December 1, 2015
Ph.D. student and Harris Lab member, Chris Richards, had a paper entitled "The Binding Interface between Human APOBEC3F and HIV-1 Vif Elucidated by Genetic and Computational Approaches" published in Science Direct.

November 30, 2015
The Harris Lab is featured on WCCO-TV. Dr. Reuben Harris discusses our research on ovarian cancer and how MOCA support made this possible.

October 1, 2015
The Harris Lab would like to welcome two new postdoctoral research associates to our group, Catherine Waters and Dan Salamango.

September 2015
Ph.D. student and Harris Lab member, Brett Anderson, had a paper entitled Transcriptional regulation of APOBEC3 antiviral immunity through the CBF-β/RUNX axis published in Science Advances.

September 12, 2015
The Harris Lab participated in the MOCA event, HOM Teal Strides for Ovarian Cancer.

September 1, 2015
Dr. Reuben Harris becomes HHMI investigator (HHMI announcement, UMN announcement).

August, 2015
Dr. Michael Carpenter was promoted to Research Assistant Professor.

August 28, 2015
Maggie Olson successfully defended her thesis and will be going onto a postdoctoral research fellowship at the the University of California, San Diego.

August 27, 2015
Brandon Leonard successfully defended his thesis and will be going onto a postdoctoral research fellowship at the University of California, San Francisco.

August, 2015
Adam Cheng was awarded an NIH F30 fellowship.

August 1, 2015
Jennifer McCann began her tenure as an NSF Graduate Research Fellow.

August 1, 2015
Former postdoc in the, Dr. Allison Land, was hired as an Assistant Professor at Minnesota State University, Mankato.