Journal of Microbial & Biochemical Technology

New anti-viral drug targets for influenza A virus: Exploiting host-virus interactions to combat viral infections

International Conference and Summit on Industrial & Pharmaceutical Microbiology

October 17-18, 2016 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

Sunil K Lal

Monash University, Malaysia

Keynote: J Microb Biochem Technol

Abstract:

Sporadic outbreaks of epizootics like the recent swine and avian influenza remind us of the potential for communicable diseases to quickly spread into worldwide epidemics. Despite improved surveillance and quarantine measures, we find ourselves under the threat of an inevitable pandemic that is expected in the near future. Effective and new therapeutic targets are therefore essential to protect against current and future sporadic outbreaks and the best route to achieving this is through a detailed and global view of virus-host interactions. For the past 25 years, my lab has been focused on this approach into investigating various different proteins that have been exploited by viral proteins by protein-protein interactions. Further, we have been able to use this information to identify the pathways that these host proteins regulate and develop a complete hypothesis on how a particular host-viral interaction controls a particular host innate defense activity. The ultimate goal of this research is to design biomolecules that inhibit our newfound host-virus interactions in order to create hardship for the infecting virus. Traditional genetic screening and new functional genomics provides us a unique approach to examine the effect of influenza infection on global host mRNA levels. Biological validation of such novel predictions has been our approach to identifying potentially new anti-viral targets. We have been able to discover exciting new insights into innate immunity, cytokine and cell signaling, cell survival, death and proliferation thus shedding new vision on strategies used by influenza viruses to overcome these cellular barriers and propose new anti-viral targets.

Biography :

Sunil K Lal has joined the School of Science, Monash University, Malaysia in 2014. He has completed his PhD in Microbial Genetics from Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, USA in 1989 following which he was appointed as Faculty at the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, USA. In 1994 he joined as a Senior Research Scientist at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology (ICGEB), New Delhi where he worked for 22 years. He is internationally well known for his research work in the field of Tropical and Infectious Disease Biology. He is on the panel of many international government committees, editorial boards and universities. He has over 100 publications in international scientific journals and has published three international books on emerging viral diseases.

Email: sunil.lal@monash.edu