Biography

Dr. Mason is a Professor of Medicine an Alberta Heritage Foundation for Medical Research Senior Scholar and Director of The Applied Genomics Centre. In the laboratory, he has identified a human betaretrovirus in patients with the autoimmune liver disease, Primary Biliary Cirrhosis (PBC). His laboratory studies are now focused on investigating the prevalence of the human betaretrovirus in patients with PBC. A causal association of virus and disease is being investigated using an in vitro model of PBC and a mouse model of disease, which is also being used to find novel combination antiviral therapies for patients with PBC. Dr. Mason is also principal investigator for an international, multi-center, double blind, randomized controlled trial using highly active anti-retroviral therapy to treat patients with PBC. He also co-directs a viral discovery program using a metagenomic, deep sequencing approach to identify pathogens associated with idiopathic diseases.