Junior Researcher
Department of Tropical Medicine, Medical Microbiology and Pharmacology
John A. Burns School of Medicine, University of Hawaii at Manoa
651 Ilalo Street, BSB320
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Telephone: (808) 692-1635
E-mail: sehungu@hawaii.edu
sehun.gu@gmail.com
Education
Department of Microbiology, Hannam University, Daejeon, Korea. B.S., 2005 – Microbiology
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea. M.S., 2011 – Infection and Immunology
Department of Microbiology, College of Medicine, Korea University, Seoul, Korea. Ph.D., 2011 – Infection and Immunology
Personal Statement
Dr. Se Hun Gu, recipient of the Ph.D. degree from the Department of Microbiology of Korea University, the premier institution for hantavirus research in Korea, is conducting research on the discovery and characterization of genetically distinct hantaviruses harbored by shrews and moles (order Soricomorpha, family Soricidae and Talpidae) and bats (order Chiroptera). These studies have indicated a high prevalence of Nova virus infection in the European common mole (Talpa europaea) and the detection of a phylogenetically divergent hantavirus in the Eurasian water shrew (Neomys fodiens) in Huta Dłutowska, Poland. Dr. Gu has also analyzed more than 200 samples from insectivorous bats and fruit bats for hantavirus RNA using RT-PCR. His discovery that the banana pipistrelle (Neoromicia nanus) serves as a reservoir of a highly divergent hantavirus in Côte d’Ivoire heralds a new frontier in hantavirology.