Contact Information
Biography
Dr. Dembowski completed her graduate work at the University of Pittsburgh where she investigated mechanisms of alternative pre-mRNA splicing regulation in the nervous system. She then performed her postdoctoral work at Carnegie Mellon University where she investigated protein-RNA interactions and mechanisms of eukaryotic ribosome assembly. Continuing her interests in nucleic acid-protein interactions, she then pursued a second postdoctoral position at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine where she developed proteomic and imaging techniques to study protein recruitment to viral DNA. Dr. Dembowski joined the Department of Biological Sciences at Duquesne University as an Assistant Professor in 2019. The Dembowski lab investigates the involvement of cellular proteins in the regulation of viral DNA replication and gene expression.
Education
- Ph.D. in Molecular, Cellular and Developmental Biology, University of Pittsburgh
- B.S. in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, Clarion University of Pennsylvania
Research Interests
Herpesviruses are a large group of DNA viruses that infect a wide range of animal hosts, with eight known to infect humans. Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is a ubiquitous virus that infects over 60% of the human population causing a range of outcomes including asymptomatic infection, recurring cold sores, blindness, or encephalitis.
We are interested in determining how herpesviruses manipulate host cells to simultaneously escape DNA damage and immune responses while adapting host factors for use in viral processes. To identify host proteins involved in viral processes, we developed a new approach to purify HSV-1 DNA from infected cells for the identification of viral genome-associated proteins using mass spectrometry. This allowed us for the first time to comprehensively identify the viral and host proteins that interact with HSV-1 DNA from the time the viral genome enters into the nucleus through packaging of newly replicated viral DNA into nascent virions. We discovered that select host transcription, chromatin remodeling, DNA replication, and DNA repair proteins associate with HSV-1 genomes in a temporal manner and that protein recruitment is blocked in the absence of key viral factors. We are currently using genetic, proteomic, imaging, and high throughput sequencing approaches to define the functions of viral genome associated host proteins in the regulation of viral genome structure, gene expression, DNA replication, and DNA repair.