Vaccine Research and Development

Dr. Yuanan Lu is Professor and Director of Environmental Health Laboratory at Office of Public Health Studies in University of Hawaii, Hawaii, USA. He completed his masters in Microbilogy from Oregon State University and Ph.D. in Microbiology from University of Hawaii at Manoa. Dr. Yuanan Lu’s research interest focuses primarily on environmental and medical virology with the overall goal of employing cutting-edge molecular biology and virology technology for the development of novel strategies for effective detection and diagnosis, preventive and therapeutic approaches to combat pathogenic viruses of humans and marine species, including novel gene therapy for viral infection, marine biotechnology, and new approaches for water quality and risk assessment. His research has been continually well funded from several funding sources including the U.S. Natural Science Foundation (NSF), National Institute of Health (NIH), U.S. Sea Grant Program, and private foundations. Dr. Lu has provided supervision and scientific training and guidance to over 100 trainees in his laboratory. He is currently on the editorial board for 12 international journals and also reviews for many prestigious peer-review journals (>40) in virology and biomedical sciences related fields.

Terry Lichtor, MD, PhD is an Associate Professor in Department of Neurological Surgery at Rush University, Chicago, USA. He has a number of research interests, and his brain tumor work is largely focused on the development of a DNA vaccine for treatment of primary and metastatic intracerebral tumors. In particular Dr. Lichtor has shown that vaccines prepared by transfer of DNA from the tumor into a highly immunogenic cell line stimulates an antitumor immune response which may be efficacious in the treatment of patients with brain tumors. Other research interests include developing a passive immunotherapeutic strategy for treatment of Alzheimer’s Disease. In addition, he has been involved in the development of a non-invasive MRI technique to measure intracranial pressure and brain compliance, and has been exploring the efficacy of this modality in managing a variety of patients with neurologic problems where intracranial pressure is an issue. Dr. Lichtor is a member of the neurosurgery faculty at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, Illinois.