Dr. Nicholas Chesarino

Dr. Nicholas Chesarino

Title: Assistant Professor
Dept/Program: Biology
Phone: 330-972-4432
Email: nchesari@uakron.edu

Biography

My research focuses on how the innate immune system protects our cells from the earliest stages of viral infection. Many genes encode for a network of antiviral proteins, called restriction factors, that can slow or halt viral replication and spread. Viruses must adapt to evade or counteract these restriction factors to infect cells. Thus, viruses and their hosts are forever locked in a co-evolutionary “arms race” where host cellular defenses evolve to restrict viral replication, and viruses evolve to overcome these barriers.

Much of my work centers on Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) and related lentiviruses, studying the host-virus arms races that occur between primates and their viruses. My lab leverages evolutionary analysis, structural information, and molecular biology to understand how HIV became a human pathogen after spreading from monkeys to chimpanzees, and then from chimpanzees to humans. By understanding the molecular events underlying the HIV pandemic, as well as outbreaks caused by other viruses, we hope to uncover fundamental principles of viral evolution and host adaptation that can apply broadly to the prevention of emerging infectious diseases.

Publications

Li YL, Langley CA, Azumaya CM, Echeverria I, Chesarino NM, Emerman M, Cheng Y, and Gross JD (2023). The structural basis for HIV-1 Vif antagonism of human APOBEC3G. Nature (615), 728-733. PMID: 36754086

Chesarino NM and Emerman M (2022). HIV-1 Vif gained breadth in APOBEC3G specificity after cross-species transmission of its precursors. Journal of Virology 96(4): e02071-21. PMID: 34908448.

Kaake RM, Echeverria I, Kim SJ, Von Dollen J, Chesarino NM, Feng Y, Yu C, Ta H, Chelico L, Huang L, Gross J, Sali A, Krogan NJ (2021). Characterization of a A3G-VifHIV-1-CRL5-CBFβ structure using a cross-linking mass spectrometry pipeline for integrative modeling of host pathogen complexes. Molecular & Cellular Proteomics 100132. PMID: 34389466.

Chesarino NM and Emerman M (2020). Polymorphisms in human APOBEC3H differentially regulate ubiquitination and antiviral activity. Viruses 12(4):378. PMID: 32235597.

Binning JM, Chesarino NM, Emerman M, and Gross JD (2019). Structural basis for a species-specific determinant of an SIV Vif protein toward hominid APOBEC3G Antagonism. Cell Host and Microbe 26(6):739-747.e4. PMID: 31830442.

Kenney AD, McMichael TM, Imas A, Chesarino NM, Zhang L, Dorn LE, Wu Q, Alfaour O, Amari F, Chen M, Zani A, Chemudupati M, Accornero F, Coppola V, Rajaram MVS, and Yount JS (2019).  IFITM3 protects the heart during influenza infection.  PNAS 116(37):18607-18612.  PMID: 31451661.

Shalygin S, Kavulic K, Pietrasiak N, Bohunická M, Vaccarino MA, Chesarino NM, and Johansen JR (2019).  Neotypification of Pleurocapsa fuliginosa and epitypification of P. minor (Pleurocapsales): resolving a polyphyletic cyanobacterial genus.  Phylotaxa 392(4).

Chesarino NM, Compton AA, McMichael TM, Kenney A, Zhang L, Soewarna V, Davis MJ, Schwartz O, and Yount JS (2017).  IFITM3 requires an amphipathic helix for antiviral activity.  EMBO reports e201744100. 

Chesarino NM, McMichael TM, and Yount JS (2015).  E3 Ubiquitin Ligase NEDD4 Promotes Influenza Virus Infection by Decreasing Levels of the Antiviral Protein IFITM3.  PLoS Pathogens 11(8):e1005095.  PMID: 26263374.

Melvin WJ, McMichael TM, Chesarino NM, Hach JC, and Yount JS (2015).  IFITMs from Mycobacteria Confer Resistance to Influenza Virus When Expressed in Human Cells.  Viruses 7(6):3035-52.  PMID: 26075508.

Woods PS, Tazi MF, Chesarino NM, Amer AO, and Davis IC (2015).  TGF-β-induced IL-6 prevents development of acute lung injury in influenza A virus-infected F508del CFTR-heterozygous mice.  American Journal of Physiology: Lung Cellular and Molecular Physiology. 308(11):L1136-44.  PMID: 25840995

Wu Y, Ma J, Woods PS, Chesarino NM, Liu C, Lee LJ, Nana-Sinkam SP, and Davis IC (2015).  Selective targeting of alveolar type II respiratory epithelial cells by anti-surfactant protein-C antibody-conjugated lipoplexes.  Journal of Controlled Release 203:140-149.  PMID: 25687308.

Chesarino NM, Hach JC, Chen JL, Zaro BW, Rajaram MV, Turner J, Schlesinger LS, Pratt MR, Hang HC, and Yount JS (2014).  Chemoproteomics reveals Toll-like receptor fatty acylation.  BMC Biology 12:91.  PMID: 25371237

Chesarino NM, McMichael TM, and Yount JS (2014).  Regulation of the trafficking and antiviral activity of IFITM3 by post-translational modifications.  Future Microbiology 9(10):1151-1163.  Review.  PMID: 25405885

Chesarino NM, McMichael TM, Hach JC, and Yount JS (2014). Phosphorylation of the Antiviral Protein IFITM3 Dually Regulates its Endocytosis and Ubiquitination.  Journal of Biological Chemistry 289(17):11986-11992.  PMID: 24627473

Johansen JR, Bohunická M, Lukešová A, Hr膷ková K, Vaccarino MA, and Chesarino NM (2014).  Morphological and molecular characterization within 26 strains of the genus Cylindrospermum (Nostocaceae, Cyanobacteria), with descriptions of three new species.  Journal of Phycology 1(50): 187-202).  PMID: 26988018

Hach JC, McMichael T, Chesarino NM, and Yount JS (2013).  Palmitoylation on conserved and nonconserved cysteines of murine IFITM1 regulates its stability and anti-influenza A virus activity.  Journal of Virology 87(17): 9923-9927.  PMID: 23804635

Education

  • Postdoctoral Research Fellow, Virology. Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center, Basic Sciences and Human Biology Divisions, Seattle, Washington (2017-2023)
  • Ph.D., Biomedical Science. The Ohio State University, College of Medicine, Columbus, Ohio (2012-2016)
  • B.S., Biology. John Carroll University, University Heights, Ohio (2008-2012)