Announcements
27 March 2023
Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos de la Torre Appointed Associate Editor of Section “Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals” in Viruses
We are pleased to announce that Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos de la Torre has been appointed Associate Editor of the Section “Viral Immunology, Vaccines, and Antivirals” in Viruses (ISSN 1999-4915).
Name: Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos de la Torre
Affiliation: Department of Immunology and Microbiology IMM-6, Scripps Research, 10466 North Torrey Pines Road, La Jolla, CA 92037, USA
Interests: molecular, cell biology and pathogenesis of mammarenaviruses; virus-host cell interactions; antivirals; live attenuated vaccines
Homepage: https://www.scripps.edu/delatorre/research.html
Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos de la Torre is a Professor at the Department of Immunology and Microbiology at Scripps Research, Las Jolla, CA, USA. He obtained his Ph.D. in molecular biology and virology from the Universidad Autonoma de Madrid, Spain, in 1985. After conducting a postdoctoral research training with Dr. John Holland (UCSD) on evolution of RNA viruses, and subsequently with Dr. Michael Oldstone (Scripps Research) on viral pathogenesis, he joined the Scripps Research faculty in 1996. His research focuses on the molecular, cell biology and pathogenesis of mammarenaviruses, as well as the development of strategies, antivirals, and vaccines, to combat human pathogenic mammarenaviruses. Several mammarenaviruses cause hemorrhagic fever (HF) disease in humans and pose important public health problems in their endemic regions. In addition, the worldwide-distributed prototypic mammarenavirus LCMV is a neglected human pathogen. There are no FDA-licensed mammarenavirus vaccines and current anti-mammarenaviral therapy is limited to an off-label use of ribavirin whose efficacy remains controversial. His laboratory pioneered the development of mammarenavirus reverse genetics that has provided investigators with a novel and powerful approach for the investigation of mammarenavirus replication, gene expression, assembly and budding, as well as virus-host cell factor interactions that determine the infection outcome. These advances in mammarenavirus genetics also allow investigators to identify and characterize novel antiviral drugs, as well as implement novel vaccine platforms to combat human pathogenic mammrenaviruses.
The following is a short Q&A with Prof. Dr. Juan Carlos de la Torre, who shared his vision for the journal with us, as well as his views of the research area and Open Access publishing:
1. What appealed to you about the journal that made you want to take the role as its Associate Editor?
I have been serving as a reviewer for Viruses for some time and the scope of the journal, the overall quality of the papers being submitted there, as well as their review process, fit very well with my scientific interests and views about scientific publication.
2. What is your vision for the journal?
Viruses should focus on providing a publishing space for high-quality publications covering diverse areas of virology, while ensuring reasonable publication expenses for the authors and that the review process is timely.
3. What does the future of this field of research look like?
I think the future of virology will involve multidisciplinary collaborations, including large scale collaborative efforts. The combined expertise of different laboratories coordinated into effective collaborations can address complex problems in a timely manner that are beyond the capabilities of any single laboratory. This will pose new challenges for publication in terms of the mechanisms that will be implemented to appropriately recognize the contributions of each group and individuals.
4. What do you think of the development of Open Access in the publishing field?
In short, I am 100% in favor of Open Access in the publishing field.
