Elucidating the mechansim by which viruses manipulate cellular signalling pathways

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In order for a virus to mount a successful infection, it must utilize the host-cell machinery to gain entry into the cell, initiate viral replication, and evade the host immune response.  Viruses have evolved a number of means of dealing with these problems, and one of my research interests is understanding how, at the molecular level, viruses interact with the host cell.  Currently, my focus is directed towards how the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) protein, Latent Membrane Protein 2A (LMP2A), manipulates cellular signalling pathways to influence cellular behavior, and ultimately, how this benefits the virus. LMP2A contains a number of short protein-protein interaction motifs that enable it to recruit cellular signalling proteins.  Through recruiting these signalling proteins, LMP2A can in some cases inhibit, and in others mimic, host cell signalling pathways.  This is critically important for the virus, as manipulating cellular signalling pathways allows EBV to remain undetected and persist in the body and likely provides a survival advantage to the EBV-infected cell.  My aim is to understand, using a variety of biochemical and molecular techniques, how LMP2A manipulates cell signalling pathways and modifies cellular behavior to the advantage of the virus.