Abstract
Avian influenza viruses continue to present a challenge to human health. The H5N1 avian influenza viruses have attracted extensive attention for their deadly impact on humans since 1997, and perpetuated the fear of an influenza pandemic if they acquire the ability to transmit efficiently among humans. The speaker and her research group performed a series of studies to understand the evolution, the genetic basis of virulence, and the possibility of transmission in mammals of H5N1 influenza viruses. Their results revealed that, during circulation in nature, the H5N1 influenza viruses have gained multiple mutations that conferred their efficient replication and virulence in mammals, and it is highly likely that the H5N1 influenza viruses will become transmissible in humans by reassortment with the currently circulating human influenza viruses. In this lecture, the speaker will also present her observations on the newly emerged H7N9 viruses, which caused the deaths of 34 of 135 infected humans this year in mainland China.
About the speaker
Prof Hualan Chen received her PhD from the Graduate School of the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences (CAAS) in 1997. After three years postdoctoral research at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), she was offered a professorship in 2002 at the Harbin Veterinary Research Institute of CAAS and is currently the Director of the National Avian Influenza Reference Laboratory.
Prof Chen is a young virologist whose research focus is the study of influenza virus and the development of vaccines against this virus. She has been in charge of the animal influenza surveillance and highly pathogenic avian influenza diagnosis for China Since 2002. She has developed a series of vaccines for H5N1 avian influenza and over 100 billion doses of the vaccines have been used in China and other countries including Vietnams, Mongolia, and Egypt. She also performs extensive basic research to understand the evolution and the genetic basis of the virulence, host range, and transmission of animal influenza viruses. She has published over 70 papers on animal influenza research in international, peer-reviewed journals, including Science, PNAS, PLoS Pathogens, and Journal of Virology. Her lab was designated as avian influenza reference laboratory of World Animal Health Organization in 2008 and as Animal Influenza Reference Center of Food and Agriculture Organization in 2012.
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