Generally spoken, the research interests of my laboratory focus on the interaction between the animal herpesviruses Equine Herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1) and Marek's disease virus (MDV) in chickens and the host cell or organism, respectively
Unravel the function of proteins of distinct subviral components in the life cycle of herpesviruses
Role of viral envelope (glyco)proteins as well as the tegument proteins in the early entry steps of virus infection and in the egress of newly synthesized virions from infected cells
Assessing the role of individual open reading frames in the viruses' life cycles primarily by constructing and analyzing virus mutants
Analysis of numerous EHV-1 and MDV mutants revealed that the two closely related viruses express similar sets of envelope and tegument (glyco)proteins
Identifying genomic regions of EHV-1 and MDV, which are responsible for virulence
Develop and improve vaccines and vaccine regimens against infections with the two pathogens
Develop EHV-1 into a universal vector for immunization and gene therapy, because we have recently discovered that EHV-1 can efficiently enter primary cells of bovine, porcine and -most importantly - human origin. In addition, EHV-1 does not induce long-lasting immunity, and pre-exisiting antibodies in the human population have not been detected
Publications
selected publications listing
Trapp, S., Kamil, J.P., Schumacher, D., Nair, V.K., Parcells, M.S., and Osterrieder, N. (2006). A Virus-Encoded Telomerase RNA Promotes Malignant T-Cell Transformation. The Journal of Experimental Medicine 203, 1307-1317.
Goodman, L.B. Wagner, B., Flaminio, M.F., Sussman, K.H., Metzger, S.M., Holland, R., and Osterrieder, N. (2006). Comparison of the efficacy of inactivated combination and modified-live virus vaccines against challenge infection with neuropathogenic equine herpesvirus type 1 (EHV-1). Vaccine 24, 3636-3645.
Osterrieder, N., Kamil, J.P., Schumacher, D., Tischer, B.K., and Trapp, S. (2006). Marek's disease – From Miasma to Model. Nature Reviews Microbiology 4: 283-294.
Tischer, B.K., von Einem, J., Kaufer, B., and Osterrieder N. (2006). Two-step Red-mediated recombination for versatile, high-efficiency markerless DNA manipulation in Escherichia coli. BioTechniques 40: 191-196.
Schumacher, D., Tischer, B.K., Fuchs, W. and Osterrieder, N. (2000). Reconstitution of Marek's Disease Virus serotype 1 (MDV-1) from DNA cloned as a bacterial artificial chromosome (BAC) and characterization of a glycoprotein B-negative MDV-1 mutant. Journal of Virology 74:11088-11098.
Osterrieder, N., Neubauer, A., Brandmüller, C., Kaaden, O.-R. and O'Callaghan, D.J. (1996). The equine herpesvirus 1 (EHV-1) IR6 protein influcences virus growth at elevated temperatures and is a major determinant of virulence. Virology 226, 243-251.