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Yuanan (Ron) Lu, PhD Professor, Environmental Health 1960 East West Road, Biomed D104J Honolulu, HI 96822 email: ylu@pbrc.hawaii.edu phone: (808) 956-2702 fax: (808) 956-5818

Academic Degrees
PhD (Microbiology), University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa
MS (Microbiology), Oregon State University
BS (Marine Biology), Huazhong Agricultural University

Honors & Association

Research Interests and Ongoing Projects

Dr. Yuanan Lu's research interests focus on employing cutting-edge molecular biology and virology technology for the development of novel preventive and therapeutic strategies to combat pathogenic viruses of human and marine species. Several ongoing research projects include testing the possible use of blood-derived monocytes/macrophages as a novel gene delivery system for the central nervous system and testing candidate neuroprotective factors for their neuroprotection potential in vitro and in vivo. Another major research area in Dr. Lu’s laboratory is directed to testing and establishment of a novel, rapid molecular based method for the detection of multiple pathogens and pathogen indicators in Hawaii environmental waters. Other research activities in Dr. Lu's laboratory include marine drug development with a focus on screening marine microorganism extracts for their antiviral potential, the development of cell lines from marine species with aquaculture importance for Hawaii Aquaculture Disease Management, the employment of in vitro cell cultures as a sensitive biological indicator for enhanced monitoring of environmental pollution, and study and characterization of newly isolated promoter gene from penaeus shrimp for their potential application in the development of transgenic shrimp with virus resistance.

Courses Taught
PH 681 Environmental Determinants of Health
PH 696 Continuing Education in Public Health
PH 699 Directed Reading/Research
PH 781 Environmental Health Laboratory Methods
PH 797 Special Topics in Environmental Health

Selected Publications

Tan, F, M. Wang, W. Wang, and Y. Lu.  2008. Cytotoxicity sensitivity of six fish cell lines to four common heavy metals. Toxicology in Vitro. 22:164-170.

Lu, Y. and L. Sniderhan. 2008.  Viral vector mediated gene transfer. In: Schwab M. (editor), Encyclopedia of Cancer. 2nd Edition. Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg, New York. pp 3169-3171. Pubmed 10.1007/978-3-540-47648-1_6193.

Yang, Y.B., C.X.  Wu, J.G. Wu, V.R. Nerurkar, R. Yanagihara, and Y. Lu.  2008. Inhibition of West Nile virus replication by retrovirus-delivered small interfering RNA in human neuroblastoma. J. Med. Virol. 80:930-936.

Yang, F.X., A.A. Aguirre, S.W. Jin, B. Wilcox, L. Rougée, M. Yamamoto, Y. Xu, and Y. Lu. 2008. Polybrominated diphenyl ethers in tilapia (Oreochromis mossambicus) from O’ahu, Hawai`i. J. Environ. Monitoring 10:432-434.

Sniderhan, L.F, A. Stout, Y. Lu, M.V. Chao, and S.B. Maggirwar. 2008. Role of Ankyrin-rich Membrane Spanning Protein in Neurotrophin-mediated Activation of Nuclear Factor-κB Signaling. Molecular and Cellular Neurosci. 38:404-416.

Yang, F.X., B. Wilcox, S.W. Jin, A. A. Aguirre, L. Rougée, M. Yamamoto, Y. Xu, and Y. Lu. 2008. Concentration and toxic equivalency profile of polychlorinated biphenyls in Tilapia from Hawaiian waters.  Chemosphere. 73:133-137.

Wu, C.X., V.R. Nerurkar, R. Yanagihara, and Y. Lu.  2008. Multiple modifications for improved homologous recombination and high efficiency generation of recombinant adenovirus-based vectors. J. Virological Methods. 153:120-128.

Lu, Y.  2009. Green fluorescent protein (GFP) – Lentiviral vector targeting for neuroAIDS. In: Hicks B.W. (editor), Methods in Molecular Biology: Viral Applications of the Green Fluorescent Protein. Human Press Inc. New Jersey. Pp 177-199.

Shekhar, M.S. and Y. Lu.  2009. Application of Nucleic Acid-Based Therapeutics for Viral Infections in Shrimp Aquaculture. Marine Biotechnology. 11:1-9.

Asahina, A.Y, Y. Lu, C.X. Wu, and P.C. Loh. 2009. Potential biosentinels of human waste in marine coastal waters: Bioaccumulation of human caliciviruses and enteroviruses from sewage polluted waters by indigenous mollusks. J. Virol. Methods. 158:46-50.

Tan, F., F.X. Yang, W.M. Wang, M Wang, and Y. Lu. 2009. A new fish cell line of fin established from rare minnow as versatile tool in ecotoxicology assessment of cytotoxicity of heavy metals Synechocystis sp. Acta Hydrobioligica Sinica. 33(4):234-238.

Tan, F.X., M. Wang, W.M. Wang, A.A. Aguirre, B. Wilcox, and Y. Lu.  2009. Validation of an in vitro cytotoxicity test for four heavy metals using cell lines derived from a green sea turtle (Chelonia mydas). Cell Biology and Toxicology. 26(3):255-263.

Cox, C. S.B. Cao, and Y. Lu.  2009. Enhanced Detection and Study of Murine Norovirus-1 Using a More Efficient Microglial Cell Line.  Virol. J.  6:196-.

Liu, X.Q., M. Wang, W.M. Wang, and Y. Lu. 2009. Studies on the susceptibility of multiple fresh water cell lines to channel catfish virus. J. Hydroecology.  2(6):76-79.

Yang, Y.B., J.G. Wu, and Y. Lu. 2010. Mechanism of Extracellular HIV-1-TAT Induction of IL-1b from Human Monocytes: Involvement of PLC/PKC signaling Cascade. J. Med. Virol. 82(5):735-746.

Wu, C.X. and Y. Lu. 2010. High-titer retroviral vector system for efficient gene delivery into human and mouse cells of hematopoietic and lymphocytic lineages. J. Gen. Virol. 91:1909-1918.

Jin, S.W., F.X. Yang, Y. Hui, Y. Xu, Y. Lu, J.K. Liu. 2010. Cytotoxicity and apoptosis induction on RTG-2 cells of 2,20,4,40-tetrabromodiphenyl 3 ether (BDE-47) and decabrominated diphenyl ether (BDE-209). Toxicology in vitro 24:1190-1196.

Yasuhara-Bell, J., Y.B. Yang, R. Barlow, H. Trapido-Rosenthal, and Y. Lu. 2010. In vitro evaluation of marine-microorganism extracts for anti-viral activities. Virology Journal. doi:10.1186/1743-422X-7-182.

Ju, L.W., L.F. Jiang, J.X. Yang, Q. Shi, Q.W. Jiang, H.G. Shen, Y.Y. Tan, and Y. Lu. 2010. Co-infection of influenza A/H1N1 and A/H3N2 viruses in a patient with influenza-like illness during the winter/spring of 2008 in Shanghai, China. J. Med. Virol. 82(8):1299-1305.

Yasuhara-Bell J and Y. Lu.  2010. Marine compounds and their antiviral activities. Antiviral Research 86:231-240.

Huang, F.T., S.B. Cao, X.X. Cui, C.X. Xiong, M. Wang, Y.A. Lu, W.M. Wang, J. Ye, X.Q. Liu. 2011. Transduction of fish cells with recombinant baculovirus – New findings from previous studies. J. Virol. Methods. 173:294-299.

Tong, H.I. and Y. Lu. 2011. Effective detection of human adenovirus in Hawaiian waters using enhanced PCR method. Virol. J. 8:57  (doi:10.1186/1743-422X-8-57).

Cao, S.B., C.X. Wu, Y.B. Yang, L.F. Sniderhan, S. Maggirwar, S. Dewhurst, and Y. Lu. 2011. Lentiviral vector-mediated expression of sTNFR-Fc in stably transduced human macrophage and neuronal cells: implications for NeuroAIDS therapeutic. J. Neuroinflammation.  8(1):48 (DOI: 10.1186/1742-2094-8-48)

Viau, E.J., K.D. Goodwin, K.M. Yamahara, B.A. Layton, L.M. Sassoubre, S.L. Burns, H.I. Tong, S.W.C. Wong, Y. Lu, and A.B. Boehm. 2011. Bacterial pathogens in Hawaiian coastal streams - associations with fecal indicators, land cover, and water quality. Water Research. 45(11):3279-90.

Yang, F.X., S.W. Jin, Y. Xu, and Y. Lu. 2011. Increasing responses of interleukin-8, reactive oxygen species and p53 protein in human lung epithelial cells exposed to PM2.5 collected from an E-waste recycling area in China. Env. Res Lett. 6(2):024013 (doi: 10.1088/1748-9326/6/2/024013).

Yan, W., P. Nie, and Y. Lu. 2011. Establishment, characterization, and viral susceptibility of a new cell line derived from a goldfish (Carassius auratus) tail fin. Journal of Fish Diseases. 34(10):757-768.

Tong, H.I., C. Connell, A.B. Boehm, and Y. Lu.  2011. Effective detection of human noroviruses in Hawaiian waters using enhanced RT-PCR methods. Water Research 45(18):5837-5848.

Wu, B., B.B. Zhu, Y.L. Luo, M. Wang, Y. Lu, W.M. Wang, S.B. Cao, F.T. Huang, and X.Q. Liu. 2011. Generation and characterization of monoclonal antibodies against channel catfish virus. Hybridoma. 30(6): 555-558.

Ma, C.C., C.M. Burchfiel, J.S. Grove, D. Fekedulegn, Y. Lu, M.E. Andrew, B.J. Willcox, K. Masaki, J.D. Curb, and B.L. Rodriguez. 2011. Risk factors for fractures among Japanese-American men: the Honolulu Heart Program and Honolulu-Asia Aging Study. Osteoporosis Internal. doi:10.1007/s11657-011-0068-6 Key.

Tong, J., H. Trapido-Rosenthal, J. Wang, Y.W. Wang, Q.X. Li, and Y. Lu. 2012. Antiviral Activities and Putative Identification of Compounds in Microbial Extracts from the Hawaiian Coastal Waters.  Marine Drugs. 10:521-538.

Tong, J., Y.W. Wang, and Y. Lu. 2012. New Developments in Small Molecular Compounds for Anti-HCV Therapy.  J. Zhejiang University Sciences-B. 12(1):56-82.

Huang, F.T., Q. Li, X.X. Cui, S.B. Cao, C.X. Xiong, M. Wang, Y. Lu, W.M. Wang, J. Ye, and X.Q. Liu. 2011. Characterization of spring viraemia of carp virus glycoprotein expressed by recombinant baculovirus. Virus Gene (in press).

Connell, C. Tong, H.I., and Y. Lu. 2012. New Approaches for Enhanced Detection of Enteroviruses from Hawaiian Environmental Waters.  PLoS ONE (in press).