Valgerður Andrésdóttir
Principal Investigator, Department of Virology and Molecular Biology at the Institute of Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland, Keldur
E-mail: valand (at) hi.is
Phone: +354-585 5100
Valgerður Andrésdóttir did her undergraduate studies at the University of Iceland. She received a Ph.D degree in 1981 from the Department of Molecular Biology, University of Edinburgh, where she studied plasmid and chromosome replication in E.coli. After working as a postdoc at the Laboratory of Cell Biology, Landspitali University Hospital, she moved to the Institute for Experimental Pathology, University of Iceland in 1985.
Research
The main research interest focuses on the molecular mechanisms of maedi-visna virus infection, a lentiviral infection of sheep. Specifically, the laboratory has been studying virus-host interaction, neurotropism of the virus, and antigenic variation. Currently the emphasis is on host restriction and the virus' means to circumvent this restriction. In collaboration with Dr. Reuben Harris, University of Minnesota, the antiretroviral APOBEC3 genes of sheep have been cloned and characterized and the interaction with the virally encoded Vif protein is being studied.
Publications: PubMed