Di antara "Undergraduate and Junior Research Support Awards in HIV and
Hepatitis 2004" ASHM Austrialia

Edwin Leeansyah

Edwin is a PhD student in the Department of Medicine, Monash University,
conducting his research at the Macfarlane Burnet Institute for Medical
Research and Public Health under the supervision of Dr Anthony Jaworowski
and Prof. Suzanne Crowe. Born in Jakarta, Indonesia, he recently obtained
his Bachelor of Biomedical Science with first class Honours from Monash
University and is a recipient of an Australian post-graduate award.

Edwin is studying the effect of HIV-1 infection on phagocytosis of IgG-
opsonised pathogens, specifically how HIV-1 impairs Fcg receptor-mediated
phagocytosis and how this contributes to AIDS-related opportunistic
infections. In previous work, he has shown that HIV-1 infection of human
monocytederived macrophages inhibits signal transduction of the Fcg
receptor (CD64) which signals via a protein called FcRg or “g-subunit” but
does not inhibit signal transduction via CD32A, an Fcg receptor which does
not require the g-subunit for signalling. This supports the hypothesis
that HIV-1-related inhibition of Fcphagocytosis is caused by a decreased
expression of the g-subunit.

In his study, Edwin aims to determine the mechanism by which HIV infection
decreases expression of the gsubunit and whether impaired signalling via
this protein extends to other cells of the immune system which normally
express this protein, such as NK cells and effector T-cells.

Dari ASHMNews May 2004