Rate My Professor Alexander Khromykh

Professor Alexander Khromykh is a Professor in the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences, Faculty of Science, at the University of Queensland. He holds a Bachelor of Science from Tomsk State University and a Doctor of Philosophy in Molecular Virology from the Institute for Molecular Virology. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Ottawa in Canada, he joined the Sir Albert Sakzewski Virus Research Centre in Brisbane, where he became Laboratory Head in 2001. In 2005, he relocated his laboratory to the University of Queensland's St Lucia campus upon appointment with the School of Chemistry and Molecular Biosciences. He founded and directed the School's Centre for Infectious Disease Research and currently serves as Group Leader of the RNA Virology Laboratory, Theme Leader in Infection and Immunity, Deputy Director (Virology) of the Australian Infectious Diseases Research Centre, Director of the Centre of Excellence in the Global Virus Network, and member of its COVID-19 and Zika virus Task Forces.

Khromykh's research specializes in the molecular pathogenesis of positive-strand RNA viruses, focusing on flaviviruses including West Nile virus, Zika virus, dengue virus, and Japanese encephalitis virus, as well as SARS-CoV-2. His laboratory investigates virus replication mechanisms, host-virus interactions, immune evasion strategies such as interferon signaling inhibition and noncoding subgenomic flavivirus RNAs, viral pathogenesis, and development of replicon-based vaccines, chimeric insect-specific flaviviruses, and antiviral therapies. He has received NHMRC Senior Research Fellowships in 2004, 2009, and 2014, along with a 2008 Long-term Invitation Fellowship from the Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science. Key publications include "A broadly protective antibody that targets the flavivirus NS1 protein" (Science, 2021), "Determinants of Zika virus host tropism uncovered by deep mutational scanning" (Nature Microbiology, 2019), "A recombinant platform for flavivirus vaccines and diagnostics using chimeras of a new insect-specific virus" (Science Translational Medicine, 2019), "Zika virus noncoding RNA suppresses apoptosis and is required for virus transmission by mosquitoes" (Nature Communications, 2020), and "A versatile reverse genetics platform for SARS-CoV-2 and other positive-strand RNA viruses" (Nature Communications, 2021). With over 150 publications in high-impact journals, his contributions have significantly influenced flavivirus vaccine development and antiviral research.