Department of Cellular and Molecular Virology,
National Research Center for the Control and Prevention of Infectious Diseases,
Nagasaki University

Research content

Messages:

Because viruses consist of the nucleic acid as their genetic materials and an outer shell of protein (capsids), they cannot reproduce by itself. Viruses are allowed to replicate by exploiting cell machinery in host cells. Ebolavirus (EBOV) and Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) both cause major infectious diseases in humans, such as Ebolavirus disease and EBV -associated malignancies, respectively. The long-term goal of our study is to provide insights into the molecular mechanisms of their pathogenesis in the aspect of host-virus interaction, which shall lead to the development of rational therapies and diagnosis for them.

Ongoing projects

  1. Characterization of the mechanism by which EBOV is internalized into host cells
  2. Characterization of the mechanism of EBOV virion formation
  3. Role of exosomes released from EBV-infected cells
  4. Molecular mechanism of cell-to-cell contact-mediated EBV transmission in epithelial cells
  5. Characterization of maturation of EBV virions
  6. Development of therapeutics and diagnosis for EBOV- and EBV-associated diseases

Student Recruitment

We are recruiting energetic and motivated graduate students from various background, including but not limited to virology, biochemistry, medicine, pharmacology and veterinary medicine. Our laboratory belongs to the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Nagasaki University. If you are interested in Virology, infectious diseases, bioimaging, research at BSL-4 facility, please contact us.
Please refer to the following sites for the admission policy and information.
Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences

Red fluorescent dye-labeled Ebolavirus particle (red) were internalized into the cells expressing GFP-actin (green). Internalization of viral particles induced membrane raffling, which is known to be associated with macropinocytosis.

Labeled Ebolavirus particles (red) were internalized into the cells expressing GFP-SNX5, which allows to visualize macropinosomes (green). Internalized viral particles were co-localized with macropinosomes.

News:

  1. 2021/12/02 Prof. Nanbo gave a talk at the 20th Biosafety meeting.
  2. 2021/12/01 Mr Joshua Louey has joint as a TMGH master course student.
  3. 2021/11/16 Profs. Nanbo and Furuyama gave talks at the 68th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society for Virology
  4. 2021/11/13 Prof. Nanbo gave a talk at the 38th Annual Meeting of the Pharmaceutical Society of Japan at Kyushu and Yamaguch branch.
  5. 2021/10/14 Prof. Nanbo introduced the progress at the kickoff meeting of AMED the Japan Program for Infectious Diseases Research and Infrastructure (The Interdisciplinary Cutting-edge Research program).
Past news