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Wayne Gray

Instructional Associate Professor of Biology

Wayne Gray

Dr. Wayne Gray is an Instructional Associate Professor of Biology in the Department of Biology at the University of Mississippi.

Research Interests

Dr. Gray's research interests include:

  • medical microbiology
  • virology
  • vaccines

Publications

Gray, W.L. (2022) Comparative analysis of the simian varicella virus and varicella zoster virus genomes. Viruses, 19:14:p844.

Varicella zoster virus (VZV) and simian varicella virus (SVV) cause varicella (chickenpox) in children and nonhuman primates, respectively. After resolution of acute disease, the viruses establish latent infection in neural ganglia, after which they may reactivate to cause a secondary disease, such as herpes zoster. SVV infection of nonhuman primates provides a model to investigate VZV pathogenesis and antiviral strategies. The VZV and SVV genomes are similar in size and structure and share 70-75% DNA homology. SVV and VZV DNAs are co-linear in gene arrangement with the exception of the left end of the viral genomes. Viral gene expression is regulated into immediate early, early, and late transcription during in vitro and in vivo infection. During viral latency, VZV and SVV gene expression is limited to transcription of a viral latency-associated transcript (VLT). VZV and SVV are closely related alphaherpesviruses that likely arose from an ancestral varicella virus that evolved through cospeciation into species-specific viruses.

Gray, W.L., Wichman, G., Das, A., Traina-Dorge, V. (2021) An enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to determine Simian Varicella Virus antibody titers in infected rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta). Journal of Medical Primatology.

Mahalingam,R.,Gershon, A., Gershon, M., Cohen, J.I., Arvin, A., Zerboni, L.,Zhu, H., Gray, W.L., Messaoudi, I., Traina-Dorge, V. (2019) Current in vivo models of varicella-zoster virus neurotropism. Viruses, 11(6) 2019.

Pahar B, Gray W.L., Phelps K., Didier, E.S., deHaro E., Marx, P.A., and Traina-Dorge V. (2012) Increased cellular immune responses and CD4+ T-cell proliferation correlated with reduced plasma viral load in SIV challenged recombinant simian varicella virus- simian immunodeficiency virus (rSVV-SIV) vaccinated rhesus macaques. Virology Journal, 9:160.

Gray, W.L. (2012) The simian varicella virus ORF A is expressed in infected cells, but is non-essential for replication in cell culture. Archives of Virology, 157:1803-1806. (PMC 3560413)

Meyer, C., Kerns, A., Haberthur, K., Dewane, J., Walker, J., Gray, W., and Messaoudi, I. (2013) Attenuation of the adaptive immune response in rhesus macaques infected with simian varicella virus lacking open reading frame 61. Journal of Virology, 87:2151- 2163.

Gray, W.L. (2013) Recombinant varicella vaccines expressing foreign antigens. Advances in Virology. 2013:219439.

Meyer, C., Dewane, J. ,Haberthur, K., Engelmann, F., Arnold, N., Gray, W., Messaoudi, I. (2013) Bacterial artificial chromosome derived simian varicella virus is pathogenic in vivo. Virology Journal.

Education

Ph.D. Medical Sciences, University of South Alabama (1984)