The PICREID team, with generous support from the Virology and Global Health Departments of the Institut Pasteur as well as the Fondation Pasteur Japon, is pleased to welcome three expert keynote speakers at the PICREID midterm meeting on January 20th, 2023: Kei Sato, Keita Matsuno and Akatsuki Saito. The theme of this event is “Novel Discoveries in Emerging Infectious Diseases.” Read the abstracts of their talks by clicking “Related File” above.
Professor The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan
Dr. Sato’s primary research focus is the interplay between viruses and hosts. In the last two years, he has extensively focused on the virological characterization of SARS-CoV-2 variants. In March 2010, he got a Ph.D. (Medicine) in Institute for Virus Research, Kyoto University, Japan. By using a hematopoietic stem cell-transplanted “humanized” mouse model, he established a novel animal model for HIV infection, replication and pathogenesis. He also used a variety of mutant viruses and revealed the functional interplay between HIV-encoding proteins and antiviral host proteins in viral replication in vivo. In April 2018, Dr. Sato started his own laboratory as a PI in The Institute of Medical Science, The University of Tokyo, Japan. His laboratory is named “Systems Virology”, and the aim of his laboratory is to expand and deepen the knowledge and methods in virology. To investigate the dynamics of virus infections such as HIV and emerging viruses including SARS-CoV-2, he uses a variety of multiscale analytic techniques, such as experimental virology, bioinformatics and molecular phylogenetics. Such interdisciplinary investigations through experimental virology and other sciences will pioneer a new scientific field of infectious diseases. Since the beginning of 2020, he started the investigation of SARS-CoV-2. In January 2021, he launched a consortium, “The Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan)”. The scientific activity of G2P-Japan is very high and has revealed the multiple aspects of SARS-CoV-2 variants. He promoted to be a full professor in April 2022 and continues the investigations based on Systems Virology.
Associate professor International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University
Dr. Keita Matsuno is a Veterinarian Virologist with the International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Hokkaido University. Keita holds a Bachelor of Veterinary Medicine and a PhD in Veterinary Medicine from Hokkaido University. His research interests primarily lie in understanding the genetic diversity of viruses in nature and mechanisms of their spillover events. His work includes a variety of viruses causing acute febrile illness in humans and animals, such as avian influenza virus, Ebola and Marburg viruses, bunyaviruses, coronaviruses and elephant herpesvirus. Currently, Keita and his team mainly investigate an emerging nairovirus infection in Japan.
Associate professor Department of Veterinary Medicine, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Miyazaki, Japan
Dr. Akatsuki Saito is a veterinarian and molecular virologist working on HIV-1, flaviviruses (dengue, JEV, and Zika), SARS-CoV-2, and hepadnaviruses. He got his D.V.M. degree at the University of Miyazaki and Ph.D. degree at The University of Tokyo. He had a post-doc training at The Aaron Diamond AIDS Research Center, Rockefeller University (NY, USA). He is interested in the interactions between viruses and host factors, especially how the interactions affect pathogenesis. His work includes a variety of techniques including a reverse genetics of RNA viruses and animal experiments using non-human primates. He is a member of the G2P-Japan consortium since 2021.
This will be both an in-person and virtual event. To register, please contact the Project Manager: kelly.prifti@pasteur.fr
