Cryoelectron microscopy structures of Nef and Arf1-bound AP-1 predict a hexagonal assembly (left) whose inner and outer faces bind the membrane and clathrin, respectively (right).
Principal investigator: Nevan Krogan, Ph.D., University of California, San Francisco
The HARC Center mission is to elucidate the molecular basis of systems that are essential for, or contribute to, the pathogenesis of HIV/AIDS, including the physical/functional interactions that occur between viral accessory and regulatory proteins and human proteins, membranes, lipids and nucleic acids (DNA/RNA). Through a powerful structure/function pipeline, including genetic approaches, the HARC team is gaining unprecedented insight into HIV biology, new avenues to complex structures, and the potential to fundamentally alter treatment strategies by targeting key cellular processes that contribute to AIDS at interfaces where mutational resistance is highly unlikely. The Center is also developing new technologies to drive forward work in the center and the field in general, including high resolution cryo-EM approaches, a pipeline for recombinant antibody reagents, novel proximity-based and post-translational mass spectrometry approaches and a CRISPR-cas9 based approach for functional study of host genes in T cells.