For Yue Tso, PhD
ftso@lsuhsc.edu
Assistant Professor of Research
Dr. Tso has received extensive trainings at prestigious Institutes like 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 research interests focus on HIV-associated diseases, viral co-infections, Kaposi Sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) and Kaposi Sarcoma (KS), as well as therapeutic and vaccine development against KSHV. KS is a soft-tissue tumor caused by KSHV and is one of the major forms of cancer among AIDS patients.
Dr. Tso has demonstrated in a pioneering study that latent KSHV infection can be eliminated/disrupted using KSHV-gene specific CRISPR/Cas9 technology.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Dr. Tso also examined the anti-SARS-CoV-2 immune responses in cancer patients in sub-Saharan Africa.
Currently, Dr. Tso is studying KSHV tissue reservoirs in infected individuals, as well as developing a small animal model to study KSHV infection/transmission.