Zika virus (ZIKV) infection has recently attracted worldwide attention because it causes microcephaly in babies. Strategies to combat ZIKV infection require basic understanding of its infection mechanism. ZIKV belongs to the flavivirus family, whose members include West Nile and Dengue viruses. As infection by flaviviruses co-opts the host endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-associated protein quality control machineries, we hypothesize that ZIKV also hijacks these cellular machineries to promote infections.

This presentation will focus on ER-associated responses, which represent druggable pathways under evaluation for the treatment of multiple human disorders. ER-associated responses could serve as starting points to find effective therapeutic agents to treat flavivirus infection.

About the speaker:
Billy Tsai, Ph.D., Corydon Ford Collegiate Professor, University Michigan

Billy Tsai has been a member of the Cell and Developmental Biology faculty at the University of Michigan Medical School since 2003. He received his Bachelor of Science degree (Phi Beta Kappa, magna cum laude) and Master of Science degree at the University of California at Los Angeles. He received his doctorate in molecular and cellular biology from Harvard University in 1999 and then completed a 3.5 year Damon-Runyon post-doctoral fellowship at Harvard Medical School. He currently serves as an associate editor of the Journal of Virology, on the editorial boards of the Journal of Biological Chemistry and Viruses, and as a permanent NIH study section member.

9:00 a.m., May 13th*
Forum Hall, Palmer Commons
*Please join us for an introduction to the Center for Discovery of New Medicine's Request for Applications by Vincent Groppi at 9:00 a.m., followed by the presentation from Dr. Tsai at 9:30 a.m.