“The strength of collaborative research has become even more obvious in the current pandemic”
HKU-Pasteur celebrates its 20th anniversary this year, it is the occasion to show you a little bit more about the people who make this lab a major research pole on infectious diseases, an innovative teaching center and a very special place for us all!
Today, meet Professor Sumana Sanyal, former Principal Investigator at HKU-Pasteur Research Pole. Prof Sanyal’s lab combines methods of molecular biology and immunology to address aspects of host-pathogen interactions.
“I have benefited enormously from working with different research groups to answer biological questions that we are interested in.
The strength of collaborative research has become even more obvious in the current pandemic. Collaborations have been an essential ingredient for me to move research projects forward, since a single team is fairly limited in the expertise they can have.
From a medical perspective, our work on Dengue and Influenza is crucial. These are important human pathogens which take a significant toll on human health. For Dengue in particular, there are no effective vaccines or therapies that are currently available. Therefore, studying these viruses are important to develop strategies to block infection.
Our main interest is more on the fundamental aspects of host cell biology and how these viruses operate within a cell to suppress immune responses and make an environment conducive to replication. Understanding these mechanisms provides insight into universal features of host pathogen biology.”
To know more about the research he conducts at HKU-Pasteur and other researchers from the Pole, browse the HKU-Pasteur Research Pole 20th Anniversary Book, 60 pages tracing back 20 years of research, teaching, activities and more!