Iketani Lab

The Iketani Lab is focused on answering basic and translational virology questions, with a particular focus on developing high-throughput scalable strategies that may make an impact in virology and beyond. Although the Lab focuses on several viruses and topics for both proof-of-concept and clinical relevance, we hope that what we develop has broad utility and applicability.

Research Areas

We currently have three main interests:

1. SARS-CoV-2: The Lab has studied this virus since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, contributing on several fronts, including drug resistance. Though the disease has now become largely manageable through the vaccines and therapeutics that were developed, the virus has become a circulating endemic pathogen that still causes numerous infections and presents an issue for many, such as those who are immunocompromised. We therefore continue to study this virus, given its public health relevance. Moreover, the many reagents we have built and our experience allows us to study SARS-CoV-2 as a model virus for virological questions.
2. Pandemic Preparedness: The recent pandemics and epidemics have laid bare the possibility of a newfound human virus having devastating impacts. We will surely continue to see the emergence of such viruses. In anticipation that the next virus will arise sooner than later, we hope to develop a knowledge base as well as antivirals that may help us prepare for such a pathogen.
3. Discovery Efforts: The current era of big data has resulted in millions of viruses and viral sequences being identified, yet we have only studied a fraction of them. Past history tells us that studying viruses can provide us with immense biological knowledge as well as technological tools. We are currently seeking to identify such useful virology through several discovery efforts.

Please see iketanilab.com for further information.