Luo, Honglin
MS, MD (Chongqing)
Academic Rank(s): Professor, Department of Pathology & Laboratory Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, UBC |
Affiliation(s): Centre for Heart Lung Innovation at St. Paul’s Hospital
Research and Scholarly Interests: Myocarditis, RNA viruses, viral pathogenesis, oncolytic virus, virotherapy, protein/organelle quality control, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, lung and breast cancer
Clinical Interests: research in viral infections, cardiovascular diseases, and the development of new therapeutic strategies using viruses, particularly in the context of cancer treatment and cardiovascular health
Dr. Luo received her MD and MSc in Biomedical Engineering in China. She then pursued a postdoctoral training in Cardiovascular research with a focus on signal transduction at the University of Washington. Dr. Luo is currently a full Professor at the University of British Columbia, Canada. The focus of her research program is to understand and engineer viral mechanisms to develop new therapies. Dr. Luo has published 120 peer-reviewed papers (H-index=42 and i10-index=81 according to Google Scholar). The ongoing research projects include: (1) Understanding molecular mechanisms of impaired cardiac function in enteroviral myocarditis; (2) Determining the possible role of enteroviral infection in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS); and (3) Developing coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) as an oncolytis virus for lung cancer treatment.
Academic Background
- Postdoctoral Fellow – University of Washington, Seattle. 2000
- MSc – Sichuan University (Former West China University of Medical Sciences), Chengdu, China. 1989
- MD – Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing, China. 1986
Awards and Recognition
Publications
Research Interest
The focus of Dr. Luo’s research program is to define the molecular and pathogenetic determinants of virus-host interactions in enterovirus-induced cardiac and neurodegenerative diseases. The ongoing research projects include:
- Understanding molecular mechanisms of impaired cardiac function in enteroviral myocarditis. This research focuses on the protein quality control system, which includes molecular chaperones and protein degradation pathways (i.e., the ubiquitin-proteasome system and autophagy) with the long-term goal to design effective molecular therapies for this disease;
- Determining the possible role of enteroviral infection in the development of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Dr. Luo’s laboratory recently made an exciting discovery that enteroviral infection results in the hallmark molecular and pathological features of ALS. The current project aims to establish and understand the contribution of enteroviral infection in the pathogenesis of ALS and to test whether application of anti-enterovirus drugs can lessen the progression of ALS; and
- Developing coxsackievirus B3 (CVB3) as an oncolytis virus for lung cancer treatment. Using cell and mouse models, Dr. Luo’s group recently found that CVB3 is an extremely potent anti-tumor virus, destroying various types of lung cancer cells, with limited effects on normal cells. The present research is to genetically engineer CVB3 to further enhance its safety and anti-tumor potency for the treatment of lung cancer.
Current Projects In My Lab Include
Teaching Interest
Dr. Luo is actively involved in graduate-level teaching.