Yuanan Lu, Professor of the Office of Public Health Studies at University of Hawaii, paid a visit to IHB on July 2.

Yuanan Lu, Professor of the Office of Public Health Studies at University of Hawaii, paid a visit to Institute of Hydrobiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IHB) on July 2. During his visit, Prof. Lu delivered a lecture entitled “Water Environment and Human Health-New Indicators for Water Monitoring”. Beginning with the water-related environmental issues, Prof. Lu’s lecture tried to discuss a new approach of monitoring water quality by viruses in Hawaii environmental waters.  

Prof. Lu proposed a question at the beginning of his lecture-Is Beach Water Safe? He put forth the guidelines and strategies for the development of Clean Water Act and explained the fifth item included in the strategies in details. The fifth item, new indicators for water monitoring, is the major content of the lecture. Prof. Lu later asked another question: “Water Borne Viruses——An Alternative Indicator?” He further explained the restrictions and challenges that might occur in water monitoring by using viruses: 1. little viruses exist in environmental waters; 2. restrictions in the sequence analysis of viruses. Prof. Lu presented his research findings in the current on-going projects: his research team preliminarily selects four common types of viruses in Hawaii, and discussed the optimal conditions of viral genome sequencing by employing RT-PCR.  

Dr. Yuanan Lu's research interests focus on employing cutting-edge molecular biology and virology technology for the development of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to combat pathogenic viruses of human and marine species. Another major research area in Dr. Lu’s laboratory is directed to testing and establishment of a novel, rapid molecular based method for the detection of multiple pathogens and pathogen indicators in Hawaii environmental waters.