University of Pittsburgh Interdisciplinary Biomedical Graduate Program

Admissions Program Structure Faculty + Research Student Affairs + Campus

Overview Graduate Student Organizations Laboratory Rotations Travel Awards Milestones Curriculum/Course Information Student Directory Featured Students

Update Your Information

Virtual Tours Useful Links FAQ's Forms

Summer Programs Alumni FAQ's Events Calendar Virtual Tours Contact Us

6th in NIH funding among educational institutions and affiliates

-NIH FY 06

14th among top medical schools in terms of research excellence

-US News and World Report

The university as a whole and the school of medicine have both more than doubled their NIH support since 1998

-School of Medicine Fact Book

Print Page

Home / Student Affairs + Campus / Featured Students

Jonathan Steckbeck
Year started program: 2006
Program name: Biochemistry And Molecular Genetics
1999 - B.S., Pennsylvania State University

I chose the University of Pittsburgh to pursue my Ph.D. studies because of the breadth of faculty interests and their generally collaborative mindset. Scientific progress has increasingly moved further from highly-focused, discipline-specific research to a current state where some of the most interesting and high impact work occurs during cross-discipline collaborations, or at the intersection where emerging fields meet traditional, established disciplines. The Interdisciplinary Program immerses students in that atmosphere immediately and provides you with an early sense of the interconnectedness of biomedical research. Knowledge of that perspective combined with the freedom provided by the graduate program allows you to hone your interests and focus your research to take maximum advantage of the facilities and faculty during the course of your tenure as a Ph.D. student.

My project is to experimentally determine the topology of the HIV-1 Env gp41 transmembrane protein C-terminal tail (CTT) with respect to the cellular and viral membrane. The traditional view of the CTT is that it is entirely cytoplasmically located, but increasing evidence suggests an alternative, or possibly dynamic, topology such that regions of the CTT are, or can be, exposed to the extracellular environment. Our goal is to characterize regions of the CTT that undergo topological rearrangement during protein function and to identify the mechanisms by which such rearrangement occurs.

Publications:
Bright R., Carter D., Toapanta F., Steckbeck J.D., Cole K, Kumar N., Pushko P., Tumpey T., Smith G., and Ross T. (2008) Cross-clade protective immune responses to pandemic H5N1 viruses elicited by an influenza virus-like particle. PLoS ONE Jan 30;3(1):e1501

Gupta S., Leutenegger C.M., Dean G.A., Steckbeck J.D., Cole K.S., and Sparger E.E. (2007) Vaccination of Cats with Attenuated Feline Immunodeficiency Virus Proviral DNA Vaccine Expressing Gamma Interferon. Journal of Virology 81:465-473

Steckbeck, J.D. and Cole, K.S. (2006) Dissecting the Humoral Immune Response to Simian Immunodeficiency Virus: Mechanisms of Antibody-Mediated Virus Neutralization. Immunologic Research. 36:51-60

Steckbeck, J.D., Grieser, H., Sturgeon, T., Taber, R., Chow, A., Bruno, J., Murphy-Corb, M., Montelaro, R.C., and Cole, K.S. (2006) Dynamic evolution of antibody populations in a rhesus macaque infected with attenuated simian immunodeficiency virus. Journal of Medical Primatology 35(4-5):248-60

Steckbeck, J.D., Orlov, I., Chow, A., Grieser, H., Miller, K., Bruno, J., Robinson, J.E., Montelaro, R.C., and Cole, K.S. (2005) Kinetic Rates of Antibody Binding Correlate With Neutralization Sensitivity of Variant Simian Immunodeficiency Virus strains. Journal of Virology. 79:12311-12320

Craigo, J.K., Li, F., Steckbeck, J.D., Durkin, S., Howe, L., Cook, S.J., Issel, C., and Montelaro, R.C. (2005) Discerning An Effective Balance Between Equine Infectious Anemia Virus Attenuation and Vaccine Efficacy. Journal of Virology. 79: 2666-2677

Cole, K.S., Steckbeck, J.D., Rowles, J.L., Desrosiers, R.C., and Montelaro, R.C. (2004) Removal of N-linked Glycosylation Sites in the V1 Region of Simian Immunodeficiency Virus gp120 Results in Redirection of B-cell Responses to V3. Journal of Virology. 78:1525-1539

Li, F., Craigo, J.K., Howe, L., Steckbeck, J.D., Cook, S., Issel, C., and Montelaro, R. (2003) A Live Attenuated EIAV Proviral Vaccine with a Modified S2 Gene Provides Protection from Detectable Infection by Intravenous Virulent Virus Challenge of Experimentally Inoculated Horses. Journal of Virology. 77: 7244-7253

Van Rompay, K.K., Greenier, J.L., Cole, K.S., Earl, P., Moss, B., Steckbeck, J.D., Pahar, B., Rourke, T., Montelaro, R.C., Canfield, D.R., Tarara, R.P., Miller, C., McChesney, M.B., and Marthas, M.L. (2003) Immunization of Newborn Rhesus Macaques With Simian Immunodeficiency Virus (SIV) Vaccines Prolongs Survival After Oral Challenge With Virulent SIVmac251. Journal of Virology. 77:179-190

Craigo, J. K., Leroux, C., Howe, L., Steckbeck, J.D., Cook, S.J., Issel, C. J., and Montelaro, R.C. (2002) Transient Immune Suppression of Inapparent Carriers Infected with a Principal Neutralizing Domain-deficient Equine Infectious Anemia Virus Induces Neutralizing Antibodies and Lowers Steady-state Replication. Journal of General Virology. 83:1353-1359

View All Featured Students