Laboratory of Virology

The Laboratory of Virology closely cooperates with the Veterinary Research Institute in Brno and the Laboratory of Arbovirology, Biology Centre of the Czech Academy of Sciences in České Budějovice.

The main research area of the Laboratory of Virology is molecular pathogenesis of medically important viral infections, especially tick-borne encephalitis and other diseases caused by flaviviruses, as well as other exotic and emerging viral diseases in humans and animals. The Virology Laboratory is also involved in the development and testing of new antibodies for preventive or therapeutic use, a new generation of antiviral vaccines and antiviral drugs.

We are interested in the mechanisms by which neurotropic viruses cross the blood-brain barrier and enter the brain as a target organ. The interactions between viruses and cells in the central nervous system and the immune response to infection are also being studied. We are investigating the role of host genetic background in determining the severity and clinical presentation of viral infections. We are working on the development of new antiviral vaccines and drugs and investigating their mechanisms of action and strategies of viral resistance. We are searching for novel biomarkers associated with viral infections that could be used to diagnose or predict disease severity.

The results of our research expand our knowledge of viral diseases, but also have practical implications for the prevention and treatment of viral infections in humans and animals.