The Human Virology Department, directed by François-Loïc Cosset, is a joint laboratory of the national institute of health and medical research (INSERM) and the Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (ENSL). It is also affiliated to the Université Claude Bernard Lyon-I (UCBL). It is a re-creation of the former Human Virology Unit U412 created in 1994 by the INSERM, in partnership with the ENSL. Its 9 teams work in close collaborations with the other institutes and laboratories of Lyon-Gerland, a research campus endowed with strong basic biology sciences, which has a particular dedication in the research in infectiology.

 Introduction

The human virology laboratory pursues basic research on the molecular and cellular biology of pathogenic human viruses, their interactions with the cellular factors that govern most aspects of their viral cycle, and the characterization of pathologies associated with infection, such as chronic infections (e.g., HIV and HCV). These projects are particularly rich both in scientific approaches (biochemistry, biophysics, molecular cellular biology, and physio-pathology) and pathogens investigated: retroviruses, flaviviruses, hepaciviruses, gamma-herpesviruses, filoviruses, paramyxoviruses, avian influenza viruses, adeno-associated viruses, and prions. They should strongly contribute to clarification of the physio-pathological mechanisms of the viruses studied as well as to the discovery of novel therapeutic targets or strategies. The scientific projects fall into four types of fundamental studies related to different aspects of virus/cell interactions: 1) cell entry (interaction with cell surface receptors, cell entry processes and cell activation, membrane fusion, post-entry mechanisms and restriction), 2) replication and gene expression (transcription, RNA export, and translation controls,), 3) virus assembly (intracellular trafficking of virus components, nucleocapsid assembly, envelope assembly, and viral egress), and 4) viral pathogenesis and oncogenesis. It is also important to highlight the primary role of animal models in several of these projects and, particularly, the major role of the animal facilities on the campus (A2/A3) and of the P4 laboratory for studying these viruses. Several of these basic studies are followed up by several translational research projects in association with clinical teams, aimed at a better understanding at the patient level of the immune responses or physio-pathological mechanisms which should provide insight for further therapeutic approaches. Other projects derived from the knowledge gained through these basic projects aim to develop biotechnology applications using the viruses that are studied as tools (e.g., transgenesis using vector derived from lentiviruses or genetic vaccines derived from alternative viral vectors) and to define antiviral strategies against some major human pathogens such as HIV, HCV, Ebola, and Nipah via, for example, gene therapy, screening of antiviral compounds and vaccinology.

The Human Virology Department is a partner of IFR128 - BioSciences Lyon-Gerland and is running the vector core facility that provides to other groups of the campus access or expertise to gene transfer technologies using viral vectors derived from retroviruses (MLV, HIV, SIV) and adeno-associated viruses (AAV).