Francois Jean, University of British Columbia
Associate Professor
Microbiology and Immunology
Vancouver, British Columbia
fjean@mail.ubc.ca
Office:
(604) 822-0256
Expert In
Bio/Research
It is now well established that hijacking of host-cell biosynthetic pathways by human enveloped viruses is a shared molecular event essential for the viral life cycle. The next frontier is identifying the specific and common critical host-cell pathways that are hijacked by those pathogenic human ...
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Bio/Research
It is now well established that hijacking of host-cell biosynthetic pathways by human enveloped viruses is a shared molecular event essential for the viral life cycle. The next frontier is identifying the specific and common critical host-cell pathways that are hijacked by those pathogenic human viruses of great concern around the world. This will enable development of global antiviral strategies that will catalyze the creation of therapeutics with novel mechanisms of action that target critical host components that are essential to infection and disease. Developing novel host-directed therapeutic agents will have a dramatic impact globally by providing desperately needed broad-spectrum therapeutics against drug-resistant viruses that are continuously eroding the therapeutic armamentarium, leaving fewer or no alternative antiviral agents available.
The research programs of my laboratory are based on my breakthroughs in the field of broad-based antiviral therapeutics (Senior, K., 2000. Early steps towards a broad-based antiviral drug. The Lancet 355: 729). My lab is exploring in detail how our novel therapeutic approaches can combat human viral infections using our recently identified protein-based inhibitors directed at those host-cell proteases and viral proteases that are essential for the virus life cycle. I am now expanding the scope of my research to include our newly discovered marine natural products, small-molecule antiviral agents. My team is developing and identifying novel efficacious broad-based antiviral agents against important human enveloped viruses of major public health concern in Canada and around the world [e.g., hepatitis C virus (HCV), West Nile virus (WNV), HIV-1, and influenza A virus (InfA)]. My research programs are supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and infrastructure funds from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF).
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The research programs of my laboratory are based on my breakthroughs in the field of broad-based antiviral therapeutics (Senior, K., 2000. Early steps towards a broad-based antiviral drug. The Lancet 355: 729). My lab is exploring in detail how our novel therapeutic approaches can combat human viral infections using our recently identified protein-based inhibitors directed at those host-cell proteases and viral proteases that are essential for the virus life cycle. I am now expanding the scope of my research to include our newly discovered marine natural products, small-molecule antiviral agents. My team is developing and identifying novel efficacious broad-based antiviral agents against important human enveloped viruses of major public health concern in Canada and around the world [e.g., hepatitis C virus (HCV), West Nile virus (WNV), HIV-1, and influenza A virus (InfA)]. My research programs are supported by operating grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and infrastructure funds from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and British Columbia Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF).
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