Ramesh K. Akkina
Professor

Phone: 491-1009
Fax: 491-0603
Email: Ramesh.Akkina@colostate.edu
Office: 329 Pathology Building
Lab: 305 Pathology Building

 

Degrees

• BVSc, A.P. Agricultural University, India, 1972
• MVSc, University of Agricultural Sciences, India, 1975
• PhD, University of Minnesota, 1982

Research Interests

• Dr. Akkina's areas of research are molecular virology, viral pathogenesis, and gene therapy. Emphasis is placed on using contemporary and evolving methodologies to solve important biological problems.
• Current work involves developing novel gene therapy strategies for AIDS using the SCID-hu mouse system, gene transduction of human hematopoietic stem cells utilizing pseudotyped retroviral vectors, effect of HIV on stem cells and cells of the thymus. Research interests also include molecular studies on the gene structure and evolution of veterinary viral pathogens.

Selected Publications

Pub Med for Akkina R.

• Nayak DP, Chambers TM, and Akkina RK: Structure of influenza viral defective interfering (DI) RNAs and possible mechanism of DI-medicated interference. In: The Influenza Viruses, Krug R (ed). Plenum Press, New York, p. 269-317, 1989.
• Richardson JC and Akkina RK: NS2 protein of influenza virus is phosphorylated and is found in purified virus. Arch Virol 116:69-80, 1991.
• Akkina RK, Rosenblatt JD, Campbell AG, Chen ISY, and Zack JA: Modeling human lymphoid precursor cell gene therapy in the SCID-hu mouse. Blood 84:1393-1398, 1994.
• Sullivan DG and Akkina RK: A nested polymerase chain reaction assay to differentiate pestiviruses. Virus Res 38:231-239, 1995.
• Akkina RK, Walton RM, Chen ML, Li Q, Planelles V, and Chen ISY: High efficiency gene transfer into CD34+ cells with an HIV type 1 - based retroviral vector pseudotyped with vesicular stomatitis virus envelope glycoprotein G. J Virol 70:2581-2585, 1996.
• An DS, Koyanagi Y, Zhao JQ, Akkina RK, Bristol G, Yamamoto N, Zack JA, and Chen ISY: High-efficiency transduction of human lymphoid progenitor cells and expression in differentiated T-cells. J Virol 71:1397-1401, 1997.
• Sullivan DG, Chang GJ, and Akkina RK: Genetic analysis of ruminant pestiviruses: Sequence analysis of viral genotypes isolated from sheep. Virus Res 47:19-29, 1997.
• Banda NK, Tomczak JA, Shpall EJ, Sipple J, Akkina RK, Steimer KS, Hami L, Curiel TJ, and Harrison GS: HIV-gp120 induced cell death in hematopoietic progenitor CD34+ cells. Apoptosis 2:61-68, 1997.
• Banda NK, Akkina RK, Terrell K, Shpall EJ, Tomczak J, Campain J, Claman H, Cagle L, Harrison GS: Diphtheria toxin A gene mediated HIV-1 protection of cord blood derived T cells in the SCID-hu mouse model. J Hematother 7:319-331, 1998.
• Akkina RK. Bovine viral diarrhea virus/border disease virus. In: Persistent Viral Infections. Ed. by Ahmed R and Chen ISY, John Wiley and Sons, p 649-660, 1999.
• Banda NK, Simon GR, Sipple JD, Terrell KL, Archer P, Shpall EJ, Akkina RK, Myers AM, Harrison GS. Depletion of CD34+ CD4+ cells in bone marrow from HIV-1 infected individuals with AIDS. Biol Blood Marrow Transplant 5:162-172, 1999.
• Akkina RK, Banda NK Gorantla S, Bai J and Harrison G. Gene therapy approaches for AIDS: Use of pseudotyped retroviral vectors and toxin genes in SCID-hu mouse model. In: Advances in Animal Virology. Ed by Jameel S and Villareal LP. Science Publishers, Inc., USA, p 397-405, 2000.
• Banda NK, Simon GR, Sipple J, Terrel K, Shpall EJ, Akkina RK and Harrison GS. Role of apoptosis in defective hematopoiesis in HIV-1 infected individuals. In: Advances in Animal Virology. Ed by Jameel S and Villareal LP. Science Publishers, Inc, USA, p 281-294, 2000.
• Bai J, Gorantla S, Banda N, Cagnon L, Rossi J and Akkina R. Characterization of anti-CCR-5 ribozyme transduced CD34+ hematopoietic progenitor cells in vitro and a SCID-hu mouse model in vivo. Molecular Ther 1:244-254, 2000.
• Llewellyn ZN, Ou X, Chang GJ, Schmitt S, Salman MD, and Akkina RK. Genetic analysis of vesicular stomatitis virus-New Jersey from the 1995 outbreak in the western United States. Am J Vet Res 61:1358-1363, 2000.
• Bai J, Rossi J, and Akkina R. Multivalent anti-CCR-5 ribozymes for stem cell based HIV-1 gene therapy. AIDS Res Hum Retroviruses 17:385-399, 2001.
• Pandya S, Boris-Lawrie K, Leung NJ, Akkina R and Planelles V. Development of an Rev-independent, minimal simian immunodeficiency virus-derived vector system. Hum Gene Ther 12:847-857, 2001.
• Bai, J., Banda, N., Lee, N. S., Rossi, J. J and Akkina R. RNA based anti-HIV-1 gene therapeutic constructs in SCID-hu mouse model. Mol. Ther. 6:770-782, 2002
• Akkina R, Banerjea A, Bai J, Anderson J, Li MJ, Rossi JJ. siRNAs, ribozymes and RNA decoys in modeling stem cell-based gene therapy for HIV/AIDS. Anticancer Res 23: 1997-2005, 2003
• Banerjea A, Li MJ, Bauer G, Remling L, Lee NS, Rossi J, Akkina R. Inhibition of HIV-1 by Lentiviral vector-transduced siRNAs in T lymphocytes differentiated in SCID-hu mice and CD34+ progenitor cell-derived macrophages. Mol Ther 8: 62-71, 2003
• Anderson J, Banerjea A, Planelles V, Akkina R. Potent suppression of HIV type infection by a short hairpin anti-CXCR4 siRNA. AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses 19: 699-706, 2003