Chair, Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry
College of Medicine
W1144 BSTWR
University of Pittsburgh
Pittsburgh, PA 15261
Phone:  (412) 648-8869 
E-mail: rmont@pitt.edu

Institutional Webpage
Recent Publications

Biography:

Dr. Montelaro is a Professor in the Department of Molecular Genetics and Biochemistry at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine with secondary appointments in Immunology, Infectious Diseases and Microbiology, and Medicine. He is Director of the Research Support Core Facilities. He received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry in 1975 from the University of Wisconsin. His research interest is HIV-1 and animal lentivirus (SIV, EIAV) persistence, pathogenesis, and vaccine development.

Research:

HIV-1 and related animal lentiviruses utilize a confounding array of escape mechanisms that result in persistent infection despite robust host immune responses. The primary focus of this research program is the investigation at the molecular level of the mechanisms of lentivirus persistence and pathogenesis and the use of this information for the design and evaluation of strategies for the diagnosis, prevention and therapy of retroviral infections. These studies include a comprehensive analysis of viral evolution and host immunity in HIV-1-infected patients and in two animal lentivirus models, simian immunodeficiency virus (SIV)/monkey and equine infectious anemia virus (EIAV)/horse. The results of these studies have demonstrated that immune responses to lentiviral infections present a double-edged sword that can either mediate protection or cause severe enhancement of viral replication and disease. A major goal of current research is to define the critical immune correlates of protective and enhancing immunity and to use this information to design and evaluate candidate AIDS vaccine strategies. In addition to these immunologic studies, a second major component of this research program is the elucidation of cellular biology of HIV-1 budding, with the goal of identifying novel targets for antiviral drug development. The third major research focus of the lab is the development of novel antimicrobial peptides derived from cytolytic peptide domains contained in the envelope transmembrane protein of HIV-1.