Diversity and evolution of the global RNA virome.

Professor Dolja is a leading, world-renowned virologist whose research has revolutionized and shaped our understanding of the global RNA virome. Over half-a-century, his research has spanned the areas of virus diversity and evolution, the functional genomics of riboviruses and virus–host interactions. In addition, his laboratory has worked in the areas of virus-derived gene expression vectors and plant cell biology (myosin-powered intracellular transport).

Valerian graduated from Moscow State University (then USSR) in 1974 and received his PhD and DSc degrees in 1980 and 1987, respectively. He moved to the US in 1991 as a Visiting Scientist at Texas A&M University. In 1994, he joined the faculty of the Department of Botany and Plant Pathology at Oregon State University, Corvallis, Oregon, and was promoted to Full Professor in 2001. His current research focuses on using phylogenomics to investigate virus origins, evolution and megataxonomy. Prof. Dolja has published 168 peer-reviewed papers which have been cited 22,800 times (h-index 83). According to ScholarGPS, he is ranked in the top 0.05% of scholars worldwide.