Center for Virus Research (CVR)
The University of California at Irvine
3221 McGaugh Hall
Irvine, CA 92697-3906
Phone: 949.824.9314
Fax: 949.824.9437
Services:
Advanced Technology & Resources
Center for Virus Research
Directed by Dr. Luis P. Villarreal
Oversight committee chaired by Dr. Bert Semler.
Established in July, 2000 as an Organized Research Unit
within the University of California, Irvine.
Announcements
Upcoming CVR Seminars:
Friday October 3, 2008
12PM-1114 Natural Sciences 1
Center for Virus Research
The primary purpose of the Center for Virus Research Organized Research Unit is to stimulate significant interaction among UCI virologists and other UCI basic and clinical researchers across many disciplines.
Research on viruses has often provided a biological and technological foundation from which much has been discovered concerning the basic molecular processes of organisms. Indeed, this technology has had enormous impact on other areas. As such, the very foundations of molecular biology owe much to virus research. Virology continues to teach us much about normal and disease processes (including cancer) of living systems not only at the molecular and cellular level, but at the level of whole organisms and their populations as well. Viruses have long provided some of the most useful experimental models for disease, cancer, immunity, and genetic systems of gene control. In addition, viral-based technology is being vigorously pursued and developed in the context of gene therapy and is teaching us much about the control of cellular processes.
With the growing worldwide threat of emerging viral diseases, interest in virus research at all levels has intensified and taken on a new global perspective; thus, there is a need at the international level to become more knowledgeable about viruses and disease. As a consequence, previously separate disciplines such as molecular biology, pathogenesis, evolutionary biology neurology, and radiological sciences can now be readily linked by virus research. Such research pathways provide a highly interdisciplinary character to the Center for Virus Research at UCI.
Organization
The CVR is under the Directorship of Luis P. Villarreal, Professor in the Department of Molecular Biology and Biochemistry. An external advisory committee, composed of three senior virologist from other UC Campuses, advises the Director. In addition, an internal oversight committee chaired by Dr. Bert Semler works with the Director to develop policy. The CVR reports to the Executive Vice Chancellor for Research at UCI.
History and programs
The Center for Virus Research (CVR) began as the Irvine Research Unit in Animal Viruses in 1986. Continuing its development as an Organized Research Unit, the focus of the CVR is to develop interactions amongst UCI faculty that study the viral mechanisms of pathogenesis and to provide interdisciplinary links to both structural biology and evolutionary biology, building on the strong base of virology.
The current membership consists of 17 tenure and non-tenure faculty members from the School of Biological Sciences and the College of Medicine. The CVR is not a degree-granting program, but hosts research fellows from Pacific Rim nations, such as Mexico. It is also an element of the combined graduate program, which has a Virology track, and the Cancer Research Institute as an element of the Virology Program of that Institute. In addition, the CVR oversees laboratory training in virus based biotechnology, such as in the Master's Biotechnology Program and in the use of recombinant virus for gene therapy. In addition during the academic year, the CVR hosts a biweekly seminar series and invites prominent speakers on topics based in Virology.