
Institute of Microbiology and Virology Riga Stradins University, Latvia
Bhupesh Prusty, PhD
Associate Professor
Topic: Understanding Human Existence through Viruses
The human body is host to many pathogens living a symbiotic life within our body. Understanding the molecular mechanism and strategies these pathogens use for their survival provides us a unique opportunity to understand our own existence.
Human herpesviruses are one such group of large double stranded DNA viruses. Herpesviruses establish lifelong latency upon primary infection in human. Human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) and HHV-7 establish latency by integrating into the host telomere, which is sometimes genetically inherited.
Productive virus reactivation is rare, but its clinical associations with diseases are well-recognized. HHV-6, like other herpesviruses, frequently undergo abortive reactivation where the virus life cycle is never completed. The pathological effects of abortive HHV-6 reactivation remain elusive.
Recently, in a groundbreaking study, we reported that the HHV-6-encoded miRNA, miR-aU14, exploits miRNA-mediated inhibition of miRNA processing as a so far unknown cellular mechanism to disrupt mitochondrial architecture, evade the induction of type I interferons, and facilitates virus reactivation.
We have established a new research group at RSU, Latvia focusing on developing systems biology-based approaches that allows us to understand complex host-pathogen interactions at single-cell to organoid levels. This talk will introduce the audience to some of our innovative experimental approaches that we develop and use within our group.
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R106
Understanding Human Existence through Viruses
Bhupesh Prusty, PhD (Riga Stradins University, Latvia)
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