The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China

Prof. Raven Kok is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Assistant Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at The University of Hong Kong. He is a molecular virologist and has been interested in the host-virus interaction and host antiviral responses including “interferon signaling”. He first identified a host antiviral protein, PACT, that can recognize the viral defective interfering RNAs and optimally induce the production of type-I interferon, an indispensable primary antiviral response during early infection. He continued to characterize this novel antiviral mechanism and the viral interferon antagonists encoded by the influenza A virus, Herpes Simplex virus, Measles virus, and MERS-CoV and SARS-CoV-2. In addition to basic molecular virology study, Prof. Kok and his team recently established several novel vaccine platforms and developed novel vaccines such as intradermal influenza vaccine, and mucosal live vaccines (single-round live pan-Sarbecovirus vaccine, and single-round live RSV vaccine) and mucosal RNA-scaffold protein vaccines.