Our main goals are the virologic and immunologic monitoring of viral diseases that impact public health, with an emphasis on emerging and re-emerging viral infections.
Ongoing and past studies are linked to the molecular epidemiology of the HIV, hepatitis viruses, and arboviral infections in Romania, in order to determine the effects of genotypic diversity on the pathogenesis, clinical evolution, and treatment response.
Current projects in the laboratory are focused on the (1) kinetics of the immune response post-infection and post-vaccination (for SARS CoV-2, HPV, measles, hepatitis B) (2) new prognostic biomarkers for viral hepatitis; (3) HIV neuropathogenesis; (4) the role of viruses in non-communicable diseases.
The department is hosting the medical Virology chair of the Carol Davila University of Medicine and Pharmacy, Bucharest, providing lectures and practical training for third-year medical students (approx. 1200 students/year, Romanian and English Modules) and residents in Laboratory Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (30 residents/year). Other educational activities are directed to testing, counseling and information dissemination for HIV and viral hepatitis infections, for the general population and vulnerable groups.
