Hantavirus Hunting Beyond the Lamp Post

Date/Time: 23 April 2014, 12:00 PM - 1:00 PM
Speaker: Richard Yanagihara, M.D.
Speaker Affiliation: Professor, Department of Pediatrics, John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa
Venue: John A. Burns School of Medicine, Kaka’ako, MEB Auditorium (Room 315)

For more info: Cori Y. Watanabe 692-1654
Description: In the darkness, far from the lamp post, surrounded by answers to questions yet to be formulated, lies the heart of all pioneering, hypothesis-generating science. In this talk, reference will be made to the discovery of the Hawaiian archipelago by the original Polynesians settlers, who ventured into the vast unknown, guided only by the stars and their boundless sense of adventure. The recent discovery of genetically distinct lineages of hantaviruses in shrews, moles and insectivorous bats also exemplifies how outliers may represent opportunities, rather than obstacles.