University of Pittsburgh

Ronald C. Montelaro, PhD

Professor Emeritus





	
	


			

		Dr. Montelaro	
		

		

	
Contact

    		

		rmont@pitt.edu	
		

		
			

		412-648-8869	
		

		
	
	
			

		Fax: 
		412-624-4440	
		

	    

    
    
   
    
   
    
    		

		
417 Bridgeside Point II
450 Technology Drive
	
		

	    
    
   
   
   
   
   
   
    
    
	
	
	
			

		Pittsburgh, PA  15219-3143	
		

		
		
	



	
Education
	
	

	
PhD in Biochemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison
        

              
   
  
 
 	
Research Summary
	
	

	
The primary focus of the Montelaro lab is to elucidate the
intricate interactions between viral pathogens and host immune
responses to determine the mechanisms by with host immunity contributes
to protection and disease and to serve as a basis for the development
of effective vaccines. A particular interest of the lab is to develop
effective strategies to overcome the challenge of natural viral
antigenic variation that has evolved as a common complication to the
development of effective vaccines to important viral diseases,
including those related to biodefense and emerging infectious diseases.
Systems currently under investigation include HIV-1 and related animal
lentiviruses (SHIV, SIV, and EIAV), dengue virus, and influenza virus.
Studies in these systems include investigation of the nature and role
of antigenic variation during infection, the development of novel
assays to characterize virus-specific innate, humoral, and cellular
immune responses, and the design of engineered immunogens for effective
vaccination against variant strains of a particular virus. In addition
to these vaccine related studies, the lab also maintains a research
program to develop novel de novo antimicrobial peptides (engineered
cationic amphipathic peptides, or eCAPs) that can be used to inactivate
a diverse spectrum of bacteria or enveloped viruses in a prophylactic
or therapeutic treatment modalities.
	
	




  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
         
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
        
 
 
   
   
















        





















	
Publications
	
	

	
Steckbeck, J. D; Sun, C; Sturgeon, T. J. and Montelaro, R. C. (2013) Detailed Topology Mapping Reveals Substantial Exposure of the "Cytoplasmic" C-Terminal Tail (CTT) Sequences in HIV-1 Env Proteins at the Cell Surface. PLoS One. 8: e65220 |  View Abstract
Paranjape, S; Lauer, T; Montelaro, R., and Mietzner, T. (2013) Modulation of proinflammatory activity by the engineered cationic antimicrobial peptide WLBU-2. F1000Research 2:36 (doi:10.34 10/f1000research.2-36.v1)  |  
Deslouches, B; Steckbeck, J. D; Craigo, J. K; Doi, Y; Mietzner, T. A. and Montelaro, R. C. (2013) Rational design of engineered cationic antimicrobial peptides consisting exclusively of arginine and tryptophan, and their activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens. Antimicrob Agents Chemother. 57: 2511-2521. |  View Abstract
Craigo, J. K; Ezzelarab, C; Cook, S. J; Chong, L; Horohov, D; Issel, C. J. and Montelaro, R. C. (2013) Envelope determinants of equine lentiviral vaccine protection. PLoS One. 8: e66093 |  View Abstract
Shen, C; Ding, M; Ratner, D; Montelaro, R. C; Chen, Y. and Gupta, P. (2012) Evaluation of cervical mucosa in transmission bottleneck during acute HIV-1 infection using a cervical tissue-based organ culture. PLoS One. 7: e32539 |  View Abstract
Liu, C; Cook, F. R; Cook, S. J; Craigo, J. K; Even, D. L; Issel, C. J; Montelaro, R. C. and Horohov, D. W. (2012) The determination of in vivo envelope-specific cell-mediated immune responses in equine infectious anemia virus-infected ponies. Vet Immunol Immunopathol. 148: 302-310. |  View Abstract
Bello, N. F; Dussupt, V; Sette, P; Rudd, V; Nagashima, K; Bibollet-Ruche, F; Chen, C; Montelaro, R. C; Hahn, B. H. and Bouamr, F. (2012) Budding of retroviruses utilizing divergent L domains requires nucleocapsid. J Virol. 86: 4182-4193. |  View Abstract