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Viral Assembly and Biological Systems

Mauricio Comas-Garcia, Ph.D.

Autonomous University of San Luis Potosi

Research Center for Health Sciences and Biomedicine

Department of Sciences

Welcome to the viral assembly and biological systems laboratory. We are part of the High-resolution Microscopy Section at the Research Center for Health Sciences and Biomedicine (CICSaB).

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Our main research interests are:

  • The molecular mechanisms of virus assembly and genome packaging in arboviruses and respiratory viruses.

  • Developing novel vaccines against arboviruses and SARS-CoV-2 and viral-based biomedical tools.

  • The Neurovirulence of Zika Virus.

  • Structural biology using thin-section TEM of cultured cells and tissues.

Our Research

Our Services
Chikungunya virus assembly and budding

We have developed a plasmid for expression in mammalian cells that contains the complete genome of CHIKV 181/25 and a replicon/helper plasmid system. We are using these plasmids to understand electrostatic interactions that control core assemblu and the budding.

Assembly of (+)ssRNA viruses

Our aim is to assembly SARS-CoV-2, Chikungunya, and Zika virus virions with all their structural proteins (and lipid mebrane) in cultured cells to understand the molecular interactions that control assembly.

Assembly of human respiratory syncytial virus

We are using thin-section TEM to understand the pathogenesis of human Respiratory Syncytial Virus and how infected cells are remodeled during infection.

Zika virus neurovirulence

Our aim is to understand and characterize the neurovirulence of ZIKV in human stem cells, neurons, glial and microglial cells. We have put together a multidisciplinary team from three Mexican Universities that will tackle this problem from different points of view.

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Novel vaccines against SARS-CoV-2 and arboviruses

We are open to all new ideas to develop non-traditional vaccines against arboviruses and SARS-CoV-2. The development of ZIKVA and SARS-CoV-2 vaccines are one of our priorities. This is a collaboration with Dr. Sergio Rosales and CONACYT.

Biological Systems

We have multiple collaborations to do structural biology by using thin-section TEM and fluorescence microscopy for biological problems.

HEK-293T cells infected with Chikungunya virus 181-25

Contact

Thin-section TEM for biological samples and biopsiess: sample preparation and imaging services

Our laboratory offers several services for Researchers and Physicians:

  • Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) of purified biological samples at 80 and 200 kV.

  • Sample preparation for thin-section TEM; hydrophobic and hydrophilic resins (immunochemistry labeling).

  • TEM imaging of thin-section samples at 80 and 200 kV (JEM-JEOL-2100).

  • EM tomography.

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