Viral Infection Control Project
Prevention and Control of Viral Infection and Liver Diseases
Fumihiko Yasui has been the leader of the Viral Infection Control Project since 2017. He received Ph.D in 2004 from Graduate School of Engineering, University of Yamanashi. He joined The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science as a postdoctoral fellow in 2004 and started to work on mechanisms of pathogenesis of viral infections. He is interested in how immunity controls viral infection, and how viruses escape from host defense.
Backgrounds
Seasonal influenza, in addition to the fact that it leads to the deaths of approximately 500,000 people in the world each year, can also lead to unforeseen human and social damage, if a highly lethal new strain of influenza became prevalent in Tokyo and other ultra-densely populated areas.
Furthermore, in Japan, Hepatitis B and C infections account for more than 90% of the incidence of liver cancer, and there is now an important and urgent social demand for the development of safe an inexpensive treatment.
This project aims not only to develop effective vaccines and new therapeutic agents for all type-A influenza virus, including newer strains, but also to develop a therapeutic vaccine for viral hepatitis.
Objectives
- To clarify the pathology of seasonal flu and new strains of influenza with the aim of developing methods of prevention and treatment
- To clarify the pathology of Hepatitis B and C infections with the aim of developing methods of treatment
Members
Project Leader Fumihiko Yasui
- Tsubasa Munakata
- Naoki Yamamoto
- Takahiro Sanada
- Kenzaburo Yamaji
- Tomoko Honda
- Amiry Ahmad Faisal
- Risa Kono
- Ryusei Furusawa
- Sakiko Toyama
- Michinori Kohara*