CAS teams highlight bid to negate various viruses

CHINESE scientists are making efforts to build a cutting-edge platform for the research on pathogenic microbial infection and the development of products that can prevent and control infectious diseases.

The research will benefit not only China but also other countries, scientists from the Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology of the Chinese Academy of Science told dozens of foreign journalists who visited the lab recently.

The Information Office of the State Council recently organized journalists from foreign media to visit the Institute of Zoology and the Institute of Microbiology of CAS.

Hou Jianguo, vice president of CAS, introduced the achievements made by the academy in major scientific projects, education and international cooperation.

Zhou Qi, director of the Institute of Zoology, shared with the journalists the progress of his team’s exploration in the field of stem cell research.

Gao Fu, head of the CAS Key Laboratory of Pathogenic Microbiology and Immunology, said his team’s research will also contribute to developing countries, especially countries in Africa. “As the director-general for China CDC (Chinese Center for Disease Control and Prevention), we’ve organized a lot of activities in Africa for disease control and prevention, especially for some emerging and re-emerging viruses. And MAR (multiple antibiotic resistance) is a very important question to be addressed worldwide.”

His team is focusing on the studies of virus interspecies transmission, for example, how avian influenza infects human beings. For the last decade, the team has elucidated the molecular mechanisms for the viruses such as H5N1, H7N9 and H10N8.

Gao said his team is working on the neutralizing antibodies of various viruses, including Zika virus, Rift Valley fever virus and yellow fever virus.

(Xinhua)