Translational Research - Université de Genève

Virology
Oliver Hartley
Department of Pathology and Immunology
Oliver Hartley completed his PhD in protein engineering at the University of Cambridge, UK in
1997. Following a brief Fellowship at the Glaxo Institute for Molecular Biology in Geneva, he
joined Robin Offord’s lab as a postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Geneva. He became a
group leader in the Department of Structural Biology and Bioinformatics in 2005, where he
has been an Assistant Professor since 2008.
Macromolecular engineering to prevent infectious diseases
With a focus on the prevention of infectious diseases, our work is based on the engineering of
proteins and peptides to identify new macromolecules with potential use as medicines. Our
main work has involved the engineering of chemokines to produce highly potent HIV entry
inhibitors for use as medicines in prevention. A first clinical study of our best molecule is
scheduled to take place at the HUG in 2012. In addition to continuing fundamental studies of
the unusual inhibitory mechanisms of these molecules, we have recently begun work on the
development of a macromolecular vaccine delivery platform. Our approach, which enables
‘plug-and-play’ incorporation of antigens and immune modulators into multivalent
nanoparticles, is being evaluated in collaboration with colleagues in the Faculty.
30 Université de Genève • Faculté de médecine
Gaertner HF, Cerini F, Kamath A, Rochat A-F, Siegrist C-A, Menin L & Hartley O (2011) Efficient
orthogonal bioconjugation of dendrimers for synthesis of bioactive nanoparticles.
Bioconjugate chemistry 20: 1103-1114.
Escola JM, Kuenzi G, Gaertner H, Foti M, & Hartley O (2010) CC chemokine receptor 5 (CCR5)
desensitization: cycling receptors accumulate in the trans-Golgi network J Biol Chem
285:41772-80
Gaertner H, Cerini F, Escola JM, Kuenzi G, Melotti A, Offord R, Rossitto-Borlat I, Nedellec R,
Salkowitz J, Gorochov G, Mosier D, & Hartley O (2008) Highly potent, fully recombinant
anti-HIV chemokines: reengineering a low-cost microbicide Proc Natl Acad Sci USA
105:17706-17711
Hartley O, Gaertner H, Wilken J, Thompson D, Fish R, Ramos A, Pastore C, Dufour B, Cerini F,
Melotti A, Heveker N, Picard L, Alizon M, Mosier D, Kent S & Offord R (2004) Medicinal
chemistry applied to a synthetic protein: development of highly potent HIV entry inhibitors
Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 101:16460-16465
Lederman MM, Veazey RS, Offord R, Mosier DE, Dufour J, Mefford M, Piatak M Jr, Lifson JD,
Salkowitz JR, Rodriguez B, Blauvelt A & Hartley O (2004) Prevention of vaginal SHIV
transmission in rhesus macaques through inhibition of CCR5 Science 306: 485-487
Contact: Oliver.Hartley@unige.ch
Virology
Université de Genève • Faculté de médecine
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