Jack Chen

Research activities in our lab include both clinical and basic research of public health related viral infection. This lab is a joint effort between State of Alaska Division of Public Health and University of Alaska Fairbanks. Our clinical research focuses on the molecular diagnostics of human viral pathogens and diagnostic assay development using next generation sequencing technology. Eqipped with state-of-the-art technologies, we provide diagnosis, surveillance, and reference for many human viruses including influenza virus A & B, hepatitis A, B, and C virus, human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), adenovirus, enterovirus, herpes viruses, rabies virus, etc. The basic research involves in the virus-host cell interaction and the role of tumor virus in human tumorigenesis. We aim to answer a basic question: why a virus causes a benign infection in one person but a lethal one (cancer) in another? We use Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus, a newly discovered tumor virus, as a model to study the genetic mechanism during the transition from normal cell into cancerous one.