Department of Microbiology and Immunology

Virology

Going for virus control/regulation based on the global understanding from virus entry to its pathogenicity!
  • Evaluating viral infection/amplification as a virus-cell interaction
  • Elucidating molecular mechanisms of latent and persistent viral infections
  • Therapeutics that disrupt the virus-host interaction
  • Pathology of viruses that infect the central nervous system
  • Interactions between retrotransposons and viruses
Professor Keiji Ueda
Virology
The Lab was established in 2009 to be engaged in education and research on Virology. Its origin could be Bacteriology that was established in 1902. After this, Bacteriology Lab in Osaka University School of Medicine moved in Institute for Microbial Diseases and new Bacteriology Lab led by Prof. Kozo Inoue was born in 1981. I have inherited the lab as Virology Lab via Microbiolgy led by Koichi Yamanishi.

Control and regulate viral life cycles by disclosing the elaborate tactics

1

There is still debate on whether viruses are living organisms or a complex of organic materials and genomic information. Once a virus invades a cell, it transforms the cellular environment so that it can replicate and thrive. This process, from entry into the cell to replication, involves a number of intricate mechanisms. The lab is investigating these mechanisms by using hepatitis B virus (Hepatitis B virus) (HBV) and Kaposi’s sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) as its models. Ultimately, the goal is to find ways to prevent and control the pathogenic effects of infection. (See figures 1 and 2).

Figure 1

Figure 2

2

Viruses that infect the central nervous system (CNS), i.e. brain and spinal cord, bring some extra challenges. Subacute sclerosing panencephalitis (SSPE) caused by the measles virus and deafness due to the mumps virus are examples of virus infection-mediated disorders. Guillain-Barre syndrome, an intractable disease, is associated with viral infection. Some studies propose the hypothesis that viral infection could be the cause of many mental illnesses. We are studying the pathological mechanisms of viral infection in the CNS with emphasis on bornavirus and influenza virus, whose infection could induce behavioral abnormalities, resembling to psychiatric disorders, in animal models (Figure 3).

Figure 3

3

About 40% of the host genome consists of retrotransposons. Like retroviruses, they can reverse transcribe and insert their transcripts into other loci of the genome. Recently, it has become evident that retrotransposons can reverse transcribe RNA virus sequences. We are exploring the mechanism and physiological significance of interactions between retrotransposons and viruses. We are particularly interested in why the genome devotes such a large volume to retrotransposons (Figure 4).

Figure 4