The influenza A of Hongbo Guo

Who are you and what do you do?
"I am Hongbo Guo, a Chinese girl. I am doing my PhD in Virology division, department of Infectious diseases and immunology. Now it is my 4th-year for studying at Utrecht University. My research is about Influenza A virus and its receptor interactions.

"During my master period, I read some very interesting articles published by the group I am working now. I found out that Utrecht University is a top-level university and has a very good reputation on scientific research. Then I decided that I wanted to pursue my PhD there.

"I sent my cv and motivation letter to Professor Frank van Kuppeveld, and got an interview opportunity. I was very lucky, as I got an offer from Frank and Xander de Haan.  They are my supervisors now. I also got a CSC scholarship from Chinese government. "

Where is this workplace?
"This workplace is on the 5th-floor in Androclusgebouw, Yalelaan 1. The red-grey box behind me is called Octet® Red384, which is sophisticated equipment for detecting molecule-molecule interaction."

What is special about your research?
"My research is about dynamics of influenza A virus and receptor interactions. As you may know, Influenza is an infectious disease of the airways, and it causes lots of human death and huge economic burden.

The purpose of this research is to help people to understand how influenza A virus interact with its host cells, which is crucial for host tropism and pathogenesis. Actually, Octet is very good tool to study virus and host interaction, as it can provide kinetic model in real time."