Research Interests Dr. Rinaldo is interested in the area of AIDS and herpesvirus research. He is Principal Investigator of a large study of the natural history of HIV infection, which is part of the national Multicenter AIDS Cohort Study. His laboratory research is focused on the function of cytotoxic T lymphocytes in immunity to HIV, including characterization of the immunodominant regions related to progression of HIV infection using synthetic peptides and naturally processed antigens. Another major study is on the role of dendritic cells in the immunopathogenesis of viral infections. The dendritic cells are being assessed for their capacity to activate CD4 and CD8 T cells specific for HIV, HCV and the Kaposi's sarcoma associated herpesvirus (KSHV; human herpesvirus 8). These studies include comparisons of viral infected cells, and viral proteins, peptides and DNA antigen delivery systems to enhance T cell activation by dendritic cells. This research has implications for understanding the immunopathogenesis of HIV, HCV and KSHV infections, and in developing appropriate treatment and vaccine strategies. Dr. Rinaldo is also Assistant Director of the Clinical Microbiology Laboratory in the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, where he is responsible for the diagnostic virology section. This includes research and development of new tests that are important in organ transplantation for diagnosis of virus infections, and patterns of antivirual drug resistance.   Selected Publications Huang XL, Fan Z, Borowski L, Rinaldo CR. Maturation of dendritic cells for enhanced activation of anti-HIV-1 CD8(+) T cell immunity. J Leukoc Biol. 2008 Jun;83(6):1530-40. Sanghavi SK, Abu-Elmagd K, Keightley MC, St George K, Lewandowski K, Boes SS, Bullotta A, Dare R, Lassak M, Husain S, Kwak EJ, Paterson DL, Rinaldo CR. Relationship of cytomegalovirus load assessed by real-time PCR to pp65 antigenemia in organ transplant recipients. J Clin Virol. 2008 May 19. Rappocciolo G, Hensler HR, Jais M, Reinhart TA, Pegu A, Jenkins FJ, Rinaldo CR. Human herpesvirus 8 infects and replicates in primary cultures of activated B lymphocytes through DC-SIGN. J Virol. 2008 May;82(10):4793-806. McMurtrey CP, Lelic A, Piazza P, Chakrabarti AK, Yablonsky EJ, Wahl A, Bardet W, Eckerd A, Cook RL, Hess R, Buchli R, Loeb M, Rinaldo CR, Bramson J, Hildebrand WH. Epitope discovery in West Nile virus infection: Identification and immune recognition of viral epitopes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2008 Feb 26;105(8):2981-6. Herbeck JT, Gottlieb GS, Li X, Hu Z, Detels R, Phair J, Rinaldo C, Jacobson LP, Margolick JB, Mullins JI. Lack of Evidence for Changing Virulence of HIV-1 in North America. PLoS ONE. 2008 Feb 6;3(2):e1525. Complete Publication Listing   Grant Support NIH/NIAID: Dendritic cell activation of anti-HIV CTL. Role: Principal Investigator NIH/NIAID/NHLBI/NCI: Multicenter AIDS cohort study. Role: Principal Investigator NIH/NCI: T cell immunity to KSHV. Role: Principal Investigator NIH/NIAID: Immunology Specialty Laboratory, AIDS Clinical Trials Group. Role: Principal Investigator   Other Links IDM Department My UPMC lab site site University of Pittsburgh

Charles R Rinaldo Jr., Ph.D.; Professor Office:  A419 Crabtree Hall Lab:422 Parran Hall Phone:412-624-3928 Fax: 412-624-4953 rinaldo@pitt.edu   Academic Affiliations Primary: Department of Pathology (Professor) Secondary: Department of Infectious Diseases and Microbiology (Professor and Chairman)   Education 1969 A.B. Bacteriology Syracuse University Syracuse, NY 1973 Ph.D. Microbiology University of Utah Salt Lake City, UT 1974-78 Fellow, Viral Immunology Massachusetts General Hospital Harvard Medical School Boston, MA   Lab Personnel Research Assistant Professor/HHV-8 Lab Leader: Dr. Giovanna Rappocciolo UPMC Clinical Virology/Molecular Virologist: Dr. Laura Janocko Research Assistant Professors/MACS HIV Immunology Lab Leaders: Dr. Xiao-Li Huang, Dr. Zheng Fan Research Associate/Emerging Infections Lab Leader: Dr. Paolo Piazza MACS HIV Specimen Processing & Repository Lab Supervisor: Alycia Knauer Flow Cytometry Specialist: Luann Borowski Lab Technicians: Arlene Bullotta (UPMC), Joseph DiMauro, Mariel Jais, Weimin Jiang, Susan McQuiston, Edwin Molina, Jillian Roper, Zifa Wang, Ping Zhang IDM Students: Emilee Knowlton, Lauren Lepone