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| Name |
Goff, Stephen P. |
| Location
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Columbia University Medical Center |
| Primary Field
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Microbial Biology |
| Secondary Field
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Biochemistry |
 Election Citation
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Goff is widely known for several major developments in the study of retroviruses in mice and humans. He focuses on the function of viral gene products and the host proteins with which the viruses interact. |
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Research Interests
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Goff's current work is centered on the study of the retrovirus life cycle and the host restriction systems that inhibit virus replication. His lab identified and characterized a novel host protein, termed ZAP for zinc finger antiviral protein, that blocks expression of many viruses, including the murine leukemia viruses (MLVs), Ebola, Sindbis, and HIV-1, by degrading CpG-rich viral mRNAs. The lab has also characterized a protein complex responsible for the silencing of MLV DNAs in embryonic stem (ES) cells, and identified a zinc finger protein, ZFP809, as an ES-cell specific recognition molecule that binds proviral DNA and brings TRIM28 to modify chromatin. The most recent finding is that unintegrated MLV DNAs are loaded with histones and then silenced by histone modifications mediated by NP220 and the so-called HUSH complex. The silencing is relieved upon integration into the host genome of permissive cells. |
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