Prof. Domenico Tortorella Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, USA

Domenico Tortorella received his PhD in Biochemistry and Cell Biology from Stony Brook University and was a post-doctoral fellow in the laboratory at Harvard Medical School. His early work focused on characterizing the immune evasion strategy of human cytomegalovirus (CMV) unique short (US) gene products (US2 and US11) to down... read moreregulate major histocompatibility complex class I molecules. These studies were instrumental in identifying a new cellular pathway currently referred to as ER- quality control and –associated degradation. Recently, the lab has developed several high-throughput screens that have identified small molecules that target the early steps of a CMV infection and several monoclonal antibodies that effectively block infection and dissemination. These discoveries of molecules and biologics targeting the early steps of the CMV life cycle have provided insight into the entry process and help build a foundation for the development of safe and effective CMV therapeutics.