Initially, the department focused on basic and applied research on mosquito-borne flaviviruses such as Japanese encephalitis virus and dengue virus, and hepatitis C virus, which has a similar genetic structure to them. In order to analyse the pathogenicity of Japanese encephalitis virus at the genetic level, the entire gene sequence was determined and comparative analysis was carried out. Using reverse genetics technology to reconstruct viral particles from full-length viral cDNA, research was conducted on viral factors responsible for pathogenicity.
Subsequently, the scope of research has been expanded as emerging infectious diseases have become more prevalent. Flaviviruses such as West Nile encephalitis virus, yellow fever virus and Zika virus were added, as well as mosquito-borne viruses such as Chikungunya virus and Rift Valley virus. In addition, tick-borne viruses such as severe febrile thrombocytopenia virus (SFTSV) and tick-borne encephalitis virus, as well as SARS and Nipah virus, have been the focus of research on epidemiology, diagnosis, prevention and treatment methods.
| 1966 | Established as the Virology Division |
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| 1993 | Designated by the World Health Organisation (WHO) as a WHO Collaborating Centre for 'Research and Documentation of Tropical Viral Infectious Diseases' (Director: Prof. Akira Igarashi). |
| 1995-1998 | Dr. Koichi Morita, Lecturer, was posted to the WHO Western Pacific Regional Office (WPRO) as Director of the Infectious Disease Control Section. |
| 1998-1999 | Prof. Akira Igarashi and Kouichi Morita were posted to Malaysia as JICA experts on Nipah virus infection and isolated Nipah virus. | 1999 | Prof. Akira Igarashi received the Hideyo Noguchi Memorial Prize for Medicine. | 2002 | Prof. Koichi Morita joins a response team in Southeast Asia and China (Macao) as a WHO expert on severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS). | 2002 | Prof. Koichi Morita joins the response teams in South-East Asia and China (Macao) as a WHO expert on SARS. In the same year, the SARS virus was isolated in collaboration with the National Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology of Vietnam. | 2005-2010 | Participated in the Oceania Immunisation Enhancement Project in 13 countries and territories in Oceania, including the Republic of Fiji, in collaboration with WHO, UNICEF, JICA, AusAID, CDC and others. | 2006 | Re-designated as WHO Collaborating Centre with Prof. Koichi Morita as Director. | 2004-2006 | The lecturer Futoshi Hasebe was posted to WPRO as an Expert on Emerging Infectious Disease Control. | 2011-2017 | Jointly with JICA and JST (then AMED), implemented a project to strengthen yellow fever control and infectious disease surveillance in Kenya. |
