Yoshihiro Izumiya D.V.M. Ph.D. and his laboratory study epigenetic gene regulation by using herpesvirus reactivation as a model system. Many viruses produce an acute infection in the human host and are then cleared by the immune system. However, other viruses, especially herpesvirus, remain in the infected person till death by producing a chronic latent infection. In latent infection, the herpesvirus hides from the immune system by silencing their own gene expression and no infectious virus can be detected during latency. The virus can be reactivated with different external stimuli and will then activate hundreds of gene expression in cascade fashion; this provides us a compelling model to study movement and regulation from “silenced chromatin” to “active chromatin” of host genome.

Dr. Izumiya’s lab is particularly interested in the epigenetic components of chromatin, including host and viral factors that interact to facilitate both the establishment and maintainance of the chromatin state as well as the molecular transitions that take place during reactivation (“chromatin remodeling”). In addition, post-translational modifications that are imparted on critical viral and host factors are also an area of research in his lab. Using a combination of genetic and biochemical approaches, they try to understand the role of host and viral protein modifications such as phosphorylation, methylation, sumoylation and ubiquitinylation on protein function and role in the viral life cycle. Their research provides insights into both the post-translational modifications and chromatin remodeling that governs viral latency and reactivation. Moreover, their research may shed new information applicable to other areas of biology, such as cancer, development and aging, where epigenetic regulation has been implicated.