Title

Gregory Melikian

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Title/Position
Professor
Areas of Research

Areas of Research

Biomedical Imaging & Instrumentation
Contact

Contact

Emory Children Center, Room 546Emory
gmelikian@emory.edu
404.727.4652
Melikian Lab
Education

Education

  • PhD in Biophysics, 1984 - Moscow State University
  • B.S. in Biophysics, 1980 - Yerevan State University
Research Interests

Research Interests

We are interested in molecular mechanisms of enveloped virus entry into cells and its regulation by host factors. We investigate entry of several important pathogens, such as HIV-1, influenza virus and arenaviruses, as well as the mechanism of HIV-1 protease activation after virus budding. Our experimental approaches include novel virus labeling and visualization techniques for live cells imaging, super-resolution microscopy, and correlative light-cryo-electron microscopy (CLEM).

Teaching Interests

Teaching Interests

I currently teach a module of a foundation course for the Emory Biochemistry, Cell and Developmental Biology (BCDB) PhD program. This module focuses on applications of fluorescence microscopy to solving fundamental biological problems.
Publications

Publications

Ten Eyck A, Chen YC, Gifford L, Torres-Rivera D, Dyer EL, Melikyan GB. J Virol Methods. 2023 Oct 22;322:114834. doi: 10.1016/j.jviromet.2023.114834. PMID: 37875225.
Verma S, Chen YC, Marin M, Gillespie SE, Melikyan GB. IFITM1 and IFITM3 Proteins Inhibit the Infectivity of Progeny HIV-1 without Disrupting Envelope Glycoprotein Clusters. Viruses. 2023 Dec 7;15(12):2390. doi: 10.3390/v15122390 [PMCID: PMC10748374].
Gifford LB, Melikyan GB. HIV-1 Capsid Uncoating Is a Multistep Process That Proceeds through Defect Formation Followed by Disassembly of the Capsid Lattice. ACS Nano. 2024 Jan 30;18(4):2928-2947. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.3c07678. PMCID: PMC10832047.
Gokul Raghunath, Elizabeth H Abbott, Mariana Marin, Hui Wu, Judith Mary Reyes Ballista, Melinda A Brindley, Gregory B Melikyan. Disruption of Transmembrane Phosphatidylserine Asymmetry by HIV-1 Incorporated SERINC5 Is Not Responsible for Virus Restriction. Biomolecules 2024. May 10;14(5):570. doi: 10.3390/biom14050570. [PMCID: PMC11118262].
Prikryl D, Zhang Y, Verma S, Melikyan GB. Attenuation of IFITM proteins' antiviral activity through sequestration into intraluminal vesicles of late endosomes. Front Immunol. 2025 Aug 21;16:1647166. doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2025.1647166. eCollection 2025.PMID: 40918130.
Rodriguez ZK, Andino-Moncada JR, Buth SA, Mehrani A, Ranaweera A, Shi J, Andrade LR, Singh SP, Strutzenberg TS, Marin M, Guerrero-Ferreira R, Rahmani H, Grotjahn DA, Stagg S, Melikyan GB, Lyumkis D, Francis AC. Time-Resolved Fluorescence Imaging and Correlative Cryo-Electron Tomography to Study Structural Changes of the HIV-1 Capsid. ACS Nano. 2025 Sep 2;19(34):30902-30918. doi: 10.1021/acsnano.5c06724. Epub 2025 Aug 22.PMID: 40844114.
Markosyan RM, Marin M, Melikyan GB. SERINC5 co-expressed with HIV-1 Env or present in a target membrane destabilizes small fusion pores leading to their collapse. mBio. 2025 Dec 10;16(12):e0279325. doi: 10.1128/mbio.02793-25. Epub 2025 Nov 17. PMID: 41247072.