Our Science – Buck Website

Chris Buck, Ph.D.

Laboratory of Cellular Oncology Head, Tumor Virus Molecular Biology Section Investigator National Cancer Institute Building 37, Room 4118-B 9000 Rockville Pike Bethesda, MD 20892-4263 Phone:   301-594-7060 Fax:   301-480-5322 E-Mail:   buckc@nih.gov

Biography

Dr. Buck received a bachelor's degree in Molecular Cellular and Developmental Biology from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He then returned to his home state, Maryland, to earn a PhD from the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Dr. Buck's graduate research in the laboratory of Robert Siliciano focused on the translation and immunogenicity of the HIV-1 capsid protein Gag. For his graduate work, Dr. Buck received the Alicia Showalter Reynolds Award. In 2001, Dr. Buck began post-doctoral training in the Lab of Cellular Oncology, where he developed systems for producing human papillomavirus (HPV)-based gene transfer vectors. His work using HPV vectors has ranged from basic studies of HPV virion structure and morphogenesis to translational research identifying compounds that block HPV infection. For his work in these areas, Dr. Buck, and his mentors John Schiller and Doug Lowy, received the 2006 Norman P. Salzman Award. In 2007, Dr. Buck joined the faculty of the NCI's Center for Cancer Research as an Investigator.

Research

Human papillomaviruses (HPVs) are a group of non-enveloped DNA viruses that have evolved to exploit a specialized biological niche in epithelial tissues such as the skin or the genital mucosa. Although most HPV types are associated with clinically inapparent or benign symptoms, such as common skin warts, about a dozen sexually-transmitted HPV types cause nearly all cases of cervical cancer, as well as a substantial fraction of anal, genital and throat cancers. HPV-induced cervical cancer kills nearly 300,000 women per year worldwide, mostly in developing countries where access to cervical cancer screening is limited. A recently-licensed vaccine targeting two cancer-causing HPV types has helped focus public attention on the substantial risk these viruses pose to public health.

Work in the Tumor Virus Molecular Biology Section is focused on the HPV virion. The virions of non-enveloped viruses are dynamic structures that must undergo a range of conformational changes during different stages of the virus life cycle. Virions must be flexible enough to allow encapsidation of the viral genome, yet stable enough to withstand environmental insults encountered during transmission between host cells. Virions must also become pliable enough to release the viral genome upon infection of a host cell. Although each of these steps in the virus life cycle requires discrete structural motifs that are typically well-conserved among members of a virus family, immunological pressure tends to select for virions in which conserved functional motifs are occluded from immunological recognition. Using HPV vector technologies and a range of proteomics tools, we seek to characterize conserved functional motifs of the virion, as well as their cellular binding targets.

Work in the lab is aimed at elucidating the mechanics of virion assembly and infectious entry, as well as the basic cell biology that underpins these phases of the viral life cycle. However, our work also has translational goals. High-titer HPV-based gene transfer vectors (also known as HPV pseudoviruses) are beginning to show promise as genetic vaccine vehicles. Improved understanding of the assembly, infectivity and in vivo tropism of HPV vectors should improve their practicality for in vivo gene transfer applications.

Antibodies targeting conserved virion structures have the potential to confer sterilizing immunity against a wide variety of HPV types. Thus, another translational goal of our work is to facilitate the ongoing development of improved vaccines that might confer protection against a broader range of tumorigenic HPV types than the currently available vaccine.

This page was last updated on 12/23/2008.