Biography

Dr. Tso joined the LSU Health New Orleans department of Interdisciplinary Oncology as Assistant Professor in September 2021.

Dr. Tso has been working in the HIV-1, Kaposi’s Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Kaposi’s Sarcoma (KS) field for more than 20 years. He has trained extensively in a broad range of molecular virology research techniques at prestigious institutes such as the Washington National Primate Research Center at the University of Washington and the Nebraska Center for Virology at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. 

Dr. Tso’s studies on HIV-1 involve viral evolution, latency, pathogenesis, as well as the therapeutic and vaccine development. His recent projects have been focused on HIV-associated diseases and viral co-infection, and KSHV & KS specifically. KS is a soft-tissue tumor caused by KSHV and is one of the major forms of cancers among AIDS patients. In a pioneering study, Dr. Tso has demonstrated that latent KSHV infection can be eliminated/disrupted using KSHV-gene specific technology. He is also actively involved in examining the anti-SARS immune responses in cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa.  

Dr. Tso obtained his Bachelor of Science in Microbiology from the University of Washington - Seattle. He received his Ph.D. in Biological Sciences and completed his post-doctoral training at the University of Nebraska – Lincoln.