Viruses remain one of the greatest public health challenges, causing an amazing variety of diseases and increasingly threatening deadly, globe-spreading pandemics like Ebola. Viruses also cause at least 15% of human cancers, are suspected to contribute to neurological other chronic diseases, and are rising as bioterrorism threats. New pathogenic viruses like HIV, MERS, Zika, etc. are emerging at an accelerating pace, driven by increasing human population density, wild habitat encroachment, phenomenal viral mutation rates and other trends. In parallel, viruses are a major source of insights into normal cell biology, and provide expanding tools for biomedicine, biotechnology and nanotechnology.
Morgridge Institute for Research
Paul Ahlquist Principal Investigator
Ahlquist Lab / John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology
We’re trying to understand big-picture questions about how viruses work.
Paul Ahlquist
Principal Investigator
I lead the John W. and Jeanne M. Rowe Center for Research in Virology research team. In addition, I am a Howard Hughes Medical Investigator and a UW–Madison professor of oncology at the School of Medicine and Public Health, molecular virology in the Graduate School, and plant pathology in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. I am working to bring new talent to Wisconsin by helping to select and hire up to five top-notch investigators who will enhance research efforts to understand, prevent and treat diseases caused by viruses.
