Scott W. Wong, Ph.D.

Biography
Dr. Scott Wong received a B.S. in Biology and an M.S. in Microbiology from Oregon State University. He later received his Ph.D. in Cancer Biology from Stanford University School of Medicine. After completing his Ph.D. in 1987, Dr. Wong worked as a Postdoctoral Fellow in the Laboratory of Experimental Oncology at Stanford University School of Medicine and the Laboratory of Tumor Virus Genetics at Harvard Medical School. He joined the Oregon Regional Primate Research Center as an Assistant Scientist in 1991. Dr. Wong is currently an Associate Scientist at the Vaccine and Gene Therapy Institute. He also holds appointments in the Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology as an Associate Professor and the Oregon National Primate Research Center. Dr. Wong is also the Chair of the Oregon Health & Science University Institutional Biosafety Committee.

Research Overview
The long-term goal of the Wong laboratory is to understand how herpesviruses cause disease in immunocompromised humans. This is important in developing effective antiviral therapies and potential vaccines. Herpesviruses, however, are very specific for their natural hosts, a factor that complicates the ability to study the mechanisms of the human viruses in an animal model. An alternative approach is to utilize animal models that harbor viruses that are closely related to the human form.

One animal model that has proven to be important in understanding the mechanisms of infectious disease is the nonhuman primate. The Wong laboratory focuses on understanding how two simian herpesviruses, rhesus cytomegalovirus (CMV) and rhesus rhadinovirus (RRV), a homologue of human Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV), cause disease in immunocompromised rhesus monkeys. Utilizing molecular, genetic and virological techniques, the laboratory examines how these viruses infect and replicate in cell culture, and how they cause illnesses in animals. Studies conducted by the laboratory have shown that inoculation of immunocompromised monkeys with these viruses results in disease symptoms that closely resemble those observed in humans infected with the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). Utilizing this two-pronged approach, the laboratory is identifying the viral determinants that contribute to disease.

Selected References

Searles, R. P., Bergquam, E. P., Axthelm, M. K., and Wong, S. W. Sequence and genomic analysis of a rhesus macaque rhadinovirus with similarity to Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus / human herpesvirus 8. J. Virol. 73, 3040-3053, 1999.

Kaleeba, J. A. R., Bergquam, E. P., and Wong, S. W. A rhesus macaque rhadinovirus related to Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus /human herpesvirus 8 encodes a functional homologue of interleukin-6. J. Virol. 73, 6177-6181, 1999.

Bergquam, E. P., Avery, N., Shiigi, S. M., Axthelm, M. K., and Wong, S. W. Rhesus rhadinovirus establishes a latent infection in B lymphocytes in vivo. J. Virol. 73, 7874-7876, 1999.

Wong, S. W., Bergquam, E. P., Swanson, R. M., Lee, F. W., Shiigi, S. M., Avery, N. A., Fanton, J. W., and Axthelm, M. K. Induction of B cell hyperplasia in SIV-infected rhesus macaques with the simian homologue of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. J. Exp. Med. 190, 827-840, 1999.

Estep RD, Axthelm MK, Wong SW . A G-protein coupled receptor encoded by rhesus rhadinovirus is similar to ORF74 of Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus. J. Virol. 77: 1738-1746, 2003

Pratt CL, Estep RD, Wong SW . Differential splicing of rhesus rhadinovirus R15 and ORF74 bi-cistronic transcripts during lytic infection and analysis of effects on production of vCD200 and vGPCR. J. Virol. 79:3878-3882, 2005.

Langlais CL, Jones, JM, Estep RD, Wong SW . Rhesus rhadinovirus R15 encodes a functional homologue of human CD200. J. Virol. In press