Research of Virology
The research at the Laboratory of Virology focuses on plant viruses, invertebrate viruses and arboviruses (viruses that infect vertebrates and are transmitted by insect or other arthropods).
For most of these viruses insects play a crucial role, either as vector transmitting plant and mammalian viruses, or as host species themselves. We aim at understanding virus-host and virus-vector interactions and to use the obtained knowledge for the prevention and control of viral diseases.
Research themes
Plant virus-host and -vector interactions
We study plant viruses i) as the causal agents of plant diseases, ii) as models for investigating fundamental biological questions (with the focus on plant virus biology and virus-vector-plant interactions), and iii) as tools for biotechnological applications.
Insect virus-host interactions
We study a number of insect viruses infecting wild and/or cultured insect populations. These virus infections may cause clear symptoms or stay hidden without being seen (covert infections) for a long time.
Arboviruses & biotechnology
We study the optimization of baculovirus vectors for vaccination and gene therapy purposes.