By UM News —

UM infectious disease specialist Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., discusses ways that UM Miller School of Medicine scientists are working to tackle the Zika virus.

Mario Stevenson, Ph.D., is chief of the division of infectious diseases and co-director of CFAR, and professor of medicine at the Miller School of Medicine. Stevenson’s research is aimed at uncovering the functions of viral accessory genes, mechanisms of viral persistence and immunopathogenicity as well as cellular factors influencing virus-host cell interplay. He worked with colleagues to develop a diagnostic blood test for Zika that costs a fraction of current tests, delivers results quickly, and can be performed on the spot in any hospital or outpatient clinic. Here, Stevenson describes the various Zika detection tests that UM scientists are developing, as well as the projects underway at the UM Miller School to understand the spread of the virus.