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Mario L. Santiago, PhD

Assistant Professor

                                           

Phone: 303-724-4922
Email:  mario.santiago@ucdenver.edu
Address:  Division of Infectious Diseases
12700 E. 19th Avenue, Box B-168
Aurora, CO 80045

 

B.S. Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, University of the Philippines, 1995

Ph.D. Microbiology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2003

Post-doctoral fellow, Gladstone Institute of Virology and Immunology/UCSF, 2009

My laboratory focuses on defining innate antiretroviral mechanisms and their impact on humoral and cell-mediated immune responses in vivo, using three complementary biological systems. First, using genetic tools, we aim to identify basic innate mechanisms that influence the outcome of pathogenic Friend retrovirus infection in mice. Second, using engineered molecular clones of simian immunodeficiency virus, we aim to explore the immunological impact of attenuating encoded viral immune antagonists. Finally, using biological samples from human populations resistant or susceptible to HIV, we aim to decipher the immunogenetic properties that regulate innate HIV resistance. Understanding the biology of retroviral restriction factors in physiologically-relevant contexts may provide novel insights for therapeutic and vaccine interventions against HIV infection.

  1. Smith DS, Guo K, Barrett BS, Heilman KJ, Evans LH, Hasenkrug KJ, Greene WC and Santiago ML. 2011. Noninfectious retrovirus particles drive the Apobec3/Rfv3 dependent neutralizing antibody response. PLoS Pathogens 7(10):e1002284.

  2. Schmitt K, Guo K, Algaier M, Ruiz A, Cheng F, Qiu J, Wissing S, Santiago ML and Stephens EB. 2011. Differential virus restriction patterns of rhesus macaque and human Apobec3A: implications for lentivirus evolution. Virology 419(1):24-42.

  3. Santiago ML, Smith DS, Barrett BS, Montano M, Benitez RL, Pelanda R, Hasenkrug KJ and Greene WC. 2011. Persistent Friend virus replication and disease in Apobec3 deficient mice expressing functional B cell activating factor receptor. J Virol 85(1):189-199.

  4. Doitsh G, Cavrois M, Lassen KG, Zepeda O, Yang Z, Santiago ML, Hebbeler AM and Greene WC. 2010. Abortive HIV infection mediates CD4+ T cell depletion and inflammation in human lymphoid tissue. Cell 143(5):789-801.

  5. Kolokithas A, Rosenke K, Malik F, Hendrick D, Swanson L, Santiago ML, Portis JL, Hasenkrug KJ and Evans LH. 2010. The glycosylated Gag protein of a Murine Leukemia Virus inhibits the anti-retroviral function of Apobec3. J Virol 84(20):10933-6.

  6. Santiago ML, Benitez RL, Montano M, Hasenkrug KJ and Greene WC. 2010. Innate retroviral restriction by Apobec3 promotes antibody affinity maturation in vivo. J Immunol 185(2):1114-23.

  7. Lassen KG, Wissing S, Lobritz MA, Santiago M and Greene WC. 2010. Identification of two APOBEC3F splice variants displaying HIV-1 antiviral activity and differential Vif-sensitivity. J Biol Chem 285(38): 29326-35.

  8. Santiago ML, Montano M, Benitez R, Messer RJ, Yonemoto W, Chesebro B, Hasenkrug KJ and Greene WC. 2008. Apobec3 encodes Rfv3, a gene influencing neutralizing antibody control of retrovirus infection. Science 321(5843):1343-46.

  9. Chiu YL, Witkowska HE, Hall SC, Santiago M, Soros VB, Esnault C, Heidmann T and Greene WC. 2006. High molecular mass APOBEC3G complexes restrict Alu retrotransposition. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 103(42):15588-93.

  10. Keele BF, Heuverswyn FV, Li Y, Bailes E, Takehisa J, Santiago ML, Bibollet-Ruche F, Chen Y, Liegeois F, Loul S, Ngole EM, Bienvenue Y, Delaporte E, Brookfield JFY, Sharp PM, Shaw GM, Peeters M and Hahn BH. 2006. Chimpanzee reservoirs of pandemic and non-pandemic HIV-1. Science 313(5786): 523-526.

  11. Schindler M, Munch J, Kutsch O, Li H, Santiago ML, Bibollet-Ruche F, Muller-Trutwin M, Novembre FJ, Peeters M, Courgnaud V, Bailes E, Roques P, Sodora DL, Silvestri G, Sharp PM, Hahn BH and Kirchhoff F. 2006. Nef-mediated suppression of T cell activation was lost in the lentiviral lineage that gave rise to HIV-1. Cell 125(6):1055-67.

  12. Worobey M, Santiago ML, Keele BF, Ndjango N, Joy JB, Labama L, Dhed'a D, Rambaut A, Sharp PM, Shaw GM and Hahn BH. 2004. Origin of AIDS: Contaminated polio-vaccine theory refuted. Nature 428:820.

  13. Santiago ML, Rodenburg CM, Kamenya S, Bibollet-Ruche F, Gao F, Bailes E, Meleth S, Soong S-J, Kilby MJ, Moldoveanu Z, Fahey B, Muller MN, Ayouba A, Nerrienet E, McClure HM, Heeney JL, Pusey AE, Collins DA, Boesch C, Wrangham RW, Goodall J, Sharp PM, Shaw GM and Hahn BH. 2002. SIVcpz in wild chimpanzees. Science 295:465.