Burnet Institute hosted Professor Kei Sato for a keynote seminar on behalf of the AIID in September.
Professor Sato, who was visiting from the Institute of Medical Science at the University of Tokyo in Japan, presented his groundbreaking research on SARS-CoV-2, variants and immunity.
Professor Sato is a pioneer in systems Virology, which integrates aspects of virology, including epidemiology, pathogenicity, replication and viral structures to develop a comprehensive understanding of viruses such as HIV and SARS-CoV-2.
Professor Sato discussed the establishment of the ‘Genotype to Phenotype Japan (G2P-Japan)’ consortium in 2021 to address the challenges and threats posed by emerging viruses and their variants.
Professor Sato spoke about leading the multi-institute team that conducted a study revealing SARS-CoV-2 XBB to be the first variant derived from recombination of two other Omicron sub-variants. The study was published in Nature Communications in May 2023.
During the seminar he also shed light on the spillover of viruses from animals to humans and the need for ongoing surveillance in this area.
