The Dark Side of the Microbiome

J. Victor Garcia, PhD, director of the International Center for the Advancement of Translational Science and Oliver Smithies Investigator Professor of Medicine, is interested in how human viruses cause human cancer, how HIV causes AIDS, how SARS-CoV-2 causes COVD-19 and why the immune system is not able to control viral infections. The working hypothesis of his lab is that specific viral genes are the key determinants of viral pathogenesis and are responsible for disease progression. To evaluate the role of these genes in disease progression, his lab has developed in vitro and in vivo models that recapitulate specific aspects of viral infection. Research emphasizes xenograft animal models where human specific pathogens can be studied and where novel therapeutic interventions can be evaluated. Our laboratory has established novel animal models that recapitulate key aspect of infection by human-specific viruses such as CMV, Zika, RSV, EBV, HIV, HHV-8, dengue virus and SARS-CoV-2. His lab is currently using these systems to evaluate novel interventions to treat and/or prevent the devastating diseases caused by these agents