The global threat and spread of communicable diseases is a serious social and health risk for all nations. In addition to solving local problems, a common national and international approach is always needed. The aim of the National Laboratory of Virology is twofold: on the one hand, to increase the research performance and R&D activities of the complex virology laboratory unit of the Szentágothai János Research Centre of the University of Pécs (PTE-SzKK), and on the other hand, to unite virology research in Hungary and to build a Hungarian research network.

The laboratory builds on the existing outstanding virology laboratory facilities to carry out a wide range of basic and applied research experiments. This is partly to detect new emerging infectious diseases and to better understand the mechanisms of these and other known viral infections and, as a consequence, to develop more effective ways to protect against them. The experiments are mainly based on studies of the viral pathomechanisms of highly infectious viruses, starting from the analysis of viruses at the genomic level, through the cellular mechanisms of viral infection, to the development of antiviral therapies. The latter is very important, as one of the major challenges is to develop effective antiviral treatment or to discover mechanisms to inhibit viral replication at any level, so that we can protect ourselves against emerging infectious diseases in a timely and effective manner.