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Public Health Lab
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The lab aims to bring under control viral infectious diseases that spread from animals to humans.
AboutAbout the lab
Aiming to control viral zoonoses
The lab studies viral zoonoses, which are infectious diseases transmitted between animals and humans.
Changes to the global environment caused by human economic activity have greatly increased contact between people and wild animals carrying pathogens, as well as the mosquitoes and ticks that transmit them. This is thought to be the cause of outbreaks of these infections.
From field surveys in Hokkaido that collect rodents and ticks to cell analysis using electron microscopes, the lab broadly investigates how viruses are transmitted and how disease develops.
Key terms
- Zoonosis
- An infectious disease transmitted between animals and humans. Many spread through wild animals or through mosquitoes and ticks that carry pathogens.
- Flavivirus
- A group of viruses that cause diseases such as Japanese encephalitis, West Nile fever, dengue fever, and tick-borne encephalitis. They are carried by mosquitoes and ticks.
- Virus-like particle
- An artificial particle made to imitate only the outer shape of a virus. It contains no genes and cannot infect.
NewsLab news
A paper on a molecule that suppresses the formation of West Nile virus particles was published in Microbiology and Immunology
A doctoral student's paper on persistent infection of Hokkaido virus in wild rodents was published in Journal of Virology
A doctoral student received the MBSJ Poster Award 2025 at the Annual Meeting of the Molecular Biology Society of Japan
A doctoral student received the Young Researcher Encouragement Award from the Togavirus, Flavivirus and Pestivirus Research Meeting
Associate Professor Kobayashi received the Japanese Society of Veterinary Science Award
ResearchResearch themes
Aiming to control viral zoonoses, the lab conducts basic and epidemiological research, mainly on flavivirus infections and hantavirus infections. It studies the routes by which viruses spread in nature and how infection causes disease, and works to develop methods of diagnosis, prevention, and treatment.
*Illustrative imageHow flaviviruses cause encephalitis
West Nile virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus cause severe encephalitis in humans, but the mechanism is hardly understood. The lab has developed an experimental system for generating mutant viruses and is investigating, among other things, how ubiquitinated proteins accumulate in infected neurons.
*Illustrative imageEpidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis virus
With cases of tick-borne encephalitis reported one after another in Japan, there is a need to understand the actual extent of the epidemic. To clarify the distribution and risk of the virus in Japan, the lab collects ticks from the field and from animals, isolates the virus, and examines antibody prevalence.
*Illustrative imageA new, safe diagnostic method
Tick-borne encephalitis virus and West Nile virus can be handled only in specialized laboratory facilities, so many institutions cannot perform diagnosis. The lab has developed a method that detects antibodies using non-infectious artificial virus-like particles. It is used for patient diagnosis and surveys of endemic foci at regional public health institutes and elsewhere.
*Illustrative imageEpidemiology of hantavirus infections
Hantaviruses infect humans through inhalation of excreta from infected rodents and cause diseases such as hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome. The lab conducts epidemiological surveys in Japan and abroad to study endemic areas, the species of rodents carrying the viruses, and the properties of the circulating viruses.
MembersFaculty
Members of the Public Health Lab consist of faculty, technical aides, and doctoral and undergraduate students.As of 2026
- Project ProfessorHiroaki Kariwa
- Associate ProfessorShintaro Kobayashi
- Assistant ProfessorKeisuke Maezono
VoicesStudent voices
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Report an errorAbout the images
The top and research theme images are illustrative and were not taken at the lab. They are cropped from Wikimedia Commons images. Cropped CC BY-SA images are provided under the same CC BY-SA license as the original (version shown on each line).
- Top image: “Culex Mosquito and Micrograph of West Nile Virus Particles” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- How flaviviruses cause encephalitis: “West Nile Virus particles” NIAID / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Epidemiology of tick-borne encephalitis virus: “WRAIR Team Supports Force Health Protection During BALTOPS )” U.S. Navy 22NCR by Chief Petty Officer Justin Stumberg / Public domain (cropped)
- A new, safe diagnostic method: “96-well microplate” Gannu03 / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Epidemiology of hantavirus infections: “Craseomys rufocanus” Валерия Ковалева / CC BY 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Comparative Pathology Lab): “Tissue processing - Stained and mounted slides in the ubiquitous 20-slide folder” Ed Uthman / CC BY-SA 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Parasitology Lab): “Ezo Red Fox (Vulpes vulpes schrencki), 2024” MIKI Yoshihito / CC BY 2.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Infectious Diseases Lab): “Red holstein cows near Josselin 01” Tsaag Valren / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
- Related lab (Wildlife Science Lab): “Ursus arctos lasiotus” Nathan Ruser / CC BY-SA 4.0 (cropped)
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