The rockefeller university

Event Details

Type

Friday Lecture Series

Speaker(s)

Charles M. Rice, Ph.D., Maurice R. and Corinne P. Greenberg Professor in Virology and head, Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, scientific and executive director, Center for the Study of Hepatitis C, The Rockefeller University

Speaker bio(s)

Progress in understanding hepatitis C virus infection, which is a major cause of liver disease, including cancer, has yielded revolutionary new oral therapies capable of eliminating the virus in more than 95% of those treated. In addition to helping drive this remarkable progress in the clinic, basic HCV studies have spawned several new directions in Dr. Rice's laboratory. The first is a 16-year quest to establish cell culture systems supporting replication of HCV clinical isolates. A second area concerns a collaborative exploration of HCV’s addiction to the liver-abundant microRNA, miR-122. Studies on HCV and now other viruses indicate that sequestration of host miRNAs by RNA viruses is a genetically “cheap” strategy to manipulate host gene expression that is not unique to HCV. Finally, Dr. Rice’s laboratory is developing new platforms for unraveling host–pathogen interactions using stem cell approaches and tissue engineering. These technologies, along with the ability to precisely manipulate host genetics in mammalian cells, presage an exciting new era in infectious disease research.

 

Dr. Rice is the head of the Laboratory for Virology and Infectious Disease at The Rockefeller University. He is a prominent figure in research on members of the Flaviviridae, including hepatitis C virus. Dr. Rice received his bachelor’s degree from the University of California, Davis, in 1974 and earned his Ph.D. from the California Institute of Technology in 1981. From 1986 to 2000, Dr. Rice was a faculty member at Washington University in St. Louis. Dr. Rice has co-authored over 400 articles in the field of virology and is a past president of the American Society for Virology, a fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and a recipient of the M.W. Beijernick, Dautrebande, and Robert Koch prizes.

Open to

Public

Host

Jean-Laurent Casanova

Reception

Refreshments, 3:15 p.m. - 3:45 p.m., Abby Lounge

Contact

Linda Hanssler

Phone

(212) 327-7714

Sponsor

Linda Hanssler
(212) 327-7714
lhanssler@rockefeller.edu

Readings

http://librarynews.rockefeller.edu/?p=4026