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Venigalla Rao

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Venigalla B. Rao
Born
Andhra Pradesh
Alma materIndian Institute of Science
Andhra University
Scientific career
InstitutionsUniversity of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore
The Catholic University of America
Websitet4 Lab

Venigalla Basaveswara Rao is an Indian-American biochemist who is a professor of biology at the Catholic University of America. He serves as Director of the Bacteriophage Medical Research Center. In 2021, he was elected a Fellow of the American Society for Microbiology and the National Academy of Inventors.

Early life and education

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Rao was born in Donepudi, a village in Andhra Pradesh.[1] His family owned a small farm.[1] Rao enrolled at a college ten miles from his home, and rode a bicycle there and back every day. At college he became interested in chemistry.[1] He was an undergraduate at Andhra University, where he specialized in biochemistry.[1] He completed his doctoral research at the Indian Institute of Science, where he focused on enzyme engineering.[1] As a postdoctoral fellow, he was introduced to bacteriophages at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County. Over the course of his fellowship, Rao developed strategies to control the assembly of bacteriophage t4 in a test tube.[1]

Research and career

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Rao works on bacteriophages to understand the mechanisms of DNA packaging in double-stranded icosahedral viruses.[2] His early work explored the molecular structures that underpinned the DNA packaging machine, the motor and the capsid.[1] He studied the fastest and most effective DNA packaging machine ever known,[3] the large icosahedral virus bacteriophage T4.[4] The motor (17 nm wide and 9 nm high) would be more powerful than that of a car engine if it were scaled.[1]

Rao joined the Catholic University of America in 1989,[5] where he has served as an associate professor, full professor, chair and director. He has investigated the application of bacteriophage T4 in vaccines against HIV/AIDS,[6] the flu,[1] the plague and anthrax.[7] He argued that such vaccines would be more cost-effective, easier to administer and provide more long-term protection.[1] Rao developed a nasal vaccine to tackle COVID-19.[8] The needle-free vaccine is a noninfectious bacteriophage t4-based multi-component vaccine that contains spike trimers.[9] The vaccine is created by tailoring a harmless Bacteriophage t4 (Escherichia virus) virus, such that it delivers an antidote to COVID-19.[10] These nasal vaccines may induce immunity in the mucus lining, which could prevent viral transmission.[11][12]

Awards and honors

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Selected publications

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  • Venigalla B Rao; Michael Feiss (1 January 2008). "The bacteriophage DNA packaging motor". Annual Review of Genetics. 42: 647–681. doi:10.1146/ANNUREV.GENET.42.110807.091545. ISSN 0066-4197. PMID 18687036. Wikidata Q37237759.
  • Andrei Fokine; Paul R Chipman; Petr G. Leiman; Vadim V Mesyanzhinov; Venigalla Rao; Michael G Rossmann (7 April 2004). "Molecular architecture of the prolate head of bacteriophage T4". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 101 (16): 6003–6008. Bibcode:2004PNAS..101.6003F. doi:10.1073/PNAS.0400444101. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 395913. PMID 15071181. Wikidata Q37646448.
  • Siyang Sun; Kiran Kondabagil; Bonnie Draper; et al. (26 December 2008). "The structure of the phage T4 DNA packaging motor suggests a mechanism dependent on electrostatic forces". Cell. 135 (7): 1251–62. doi:10.1016/J.CELL.2008.11.015. ISSN 0092-8674. PMID 19109896. Wikidata Q27653281.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f g h i j "Viral Sensation". The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  2. ^ University, Catholic. "Venigalla B. Rao, Ph.D." The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  3. ^ "Search Results for "lean mean packaging machine"". NIH Director's Blog. 7 June 2018. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  4. ^ Fang, Qianglin; Tang, Wei-Chun; Fokine, Andrei; Mahalingam, Marthandan; Shao, Qianqian; Rossmann, Michael G.; Rao, Venigalla B. (4 October 2022). "Structures of a large prolate virus capsid in unexpanded and expanded states generate insights into the icosahedral virus assembly". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 119 (40): e2203272119. Bibcode:2022PNAS..11903272F. doi:10.1073/pnas.2203272119. ISSN 0027-8424. PMC 9546572. PMID 36161892.
  5. ^ University, Catholic. "Professor Researches How Viruses Can Be Designed for Human Therapies". The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  6. ^ "T4 phage (bacteriophage T4)", The Dictionary of Genomics, Transcriptomics and Proteomics, Weinheim, Germany: Wiley-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, p. 1, 18 December 2015, doi:10.1002/9783527678679.dg13139, ISBN 9783527678679, retrieved 27 October 2022
  7. ^ University, Catholic. "Vaccine That Protects Against Anthrax and Plague Created, Should Be Stockpiled by Government". The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  8. ^ "How Catholic University is Fighting the Pandemic -". 1 May 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  9. ^ Zhu, Jingen; Jain, Swati; Sha, Jian; Batra, Himanshu; Ananthaswamy, Neeti; Kilgore, Paul B.; Hendrix, Emily K.; Hosakote, Yashoda M.; Wu, Xiaorong; Olano, Juan P.; Kayode, Adeyemi; Galindo, Cristi L.; Banga, Simran; Drelich, Aleksandra; Tat, Vivian (30 August 2022). Hatfull, Graham F. (ed.). "A Bacteriophage-Based, Highly Efficacious, Needle- and Adjuvant-Free, Mucosal COVID-19 Vaccine". mBio. 13 (4): e01822–22. doi:10.1128/mbio.01822-22. ISSN 2150-7511. PMC 9426593. PMID 35900097.
  10. ^ a b University, Catholic. "Major Honor for Catholic University Professor Leading Research On New Nasal COVID Vaccine". The Catholic University of America. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  11. ^ "New needle-free nasal vaccine shows promise for COVID-19: A bacteriophage-based, highly efficacious, needle and adjuvant-free, mucosal COVID-19 vaccine". ScienceDaily. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  12. ^ "New Needle-free Nasal Vaccine Shows Promise for COVID-19". ASM.org. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  13. ^ "65 Fellows Elected into the American Academy of Microbiology". ASM.org. Retrieved 27 October 2022.
  14. ^ "2021 Fellows of the National Academy of Inventors" (PDF). 4 April 2022.
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