Dr. Fortunato is a Professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Idaho.

The Fortunato lab seeks to understand the mechanism behind the development of morbidity and mortality in infants congenitally infected with human cytomegalovirus (HCMV).

Exploring the development of CNS defects in infants congenitally infected with HCMV. Studies in our lab focus on three important findings we have made regarding interactions with the host cell: 1) HCMV can inflict site-specific chromosomal damage to the host DNA; 2) HCMV dysregulates DNA repair in infected cells and 3) infection of neural progenitor cells by HCMV causes premature and abnormal differentiation of these important CNS cells. We hope to connect our observations in tissue culture to what occurs during development of the CNS in infected infants.

Interactions of HCMV with the cell cycle regulatory protein p53. Studies in the lab have shown that: 1) HCMV interacts with p53 and sequesters it within the viral replication centers in the infected cell nucleus; 2) in those centers, p53 binds site-specifically to the viral genome and 3) infection of p53 knockout cells show dramatic decreases in viral titers, in viral DNA replication and in viral protein expression. Future work will continue to characterize the many areas where p53 plays a role in the HCMV life cycle.