Louis FlamandPh.D., MBA

Dr. Louis Flamand is a full professor and vice-chair of the department of microbiology-infectious disease-immunology at the Laval University School of Medicine and senior researcher in the division of infectious and immune diseases at the CHU de Quebec Research Center. Before joining Laval University, Dr. Flamand obtained his PhD at the University of Montreal and post-doctoral training that the National Institutes of Health and at the Institute of Human Virology (Maryland, USA). He received his MBA in pharmaceutical management from Laval University. Since 2008, he has been President of the biohazards risk committee at Laval University. He has also been a member of the HHV-6 Foundation scientific advisory board since 2006. Dr. Flamand has experience in pre-clinical development. Throughout his career, Dr. Flamand has received several competitive scholarship awards and continuous funding support from several funding agencies for his work in virology. Dr. Flamand is the author of more than 80 peer-reviewed publications and is lead Editor of the book “Human Herpesviruses HHV-6A, HHV-6B & HHV-7: Diagnosis and Clinical Management” 3^rd edition.

Biological consequences of chromosomal integration by human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6).

HHV-6 has the remarkable ability to integrate its genome in the cells that it infects. Remarkably, about 1% of the population carries a copy of the viral genome integrated in a chromosome of each cell. These individuals, referred to as inherited-chromosomally-integrated individuals (iciHHV-6), represent one of the main topics studied by Dr. Flamand and his team. HHV-6 genome integration occurs near the ends of chromosomes, in the telomere. Telomeres play a major role in cellular homeostasis by protecting the ends of chromosomes against the development of the DNA damage response, and play a key role in the long-term proliferative capacity of cells. It is therefore anticipated that the presence of the integrated virus in the telomere of ici HHV-6+ individuals may represent a risk factor for the development of various diseases. Dr. Flamand and his team recently reported that iciHHV-6⁺ subjects are 3X more at risk for developing angina pectoris, a cardiovascular disease (Gravel et al 2015 PNAS). Work in progress in the laboratory is aimed at better understanding the link between HHV-6 integration and the development of angina.

Understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms that lead to HHV-6 chromosomal integration.

Dr. Flamand’s laboratory is interested in identifying the mechanisms and viral/cellular factors underlying HHV-6 integration. Having successfully developed a cell culture model allowing them to study the integration of HHV-6, Dr. Flamand and his team are currently studying the viral and cellular proteins that play a role in HHV-6 integration process.