A prominent UW-Madison scientist is studying the Ebola virus on campus.

Yoshihiro Kawaoka, who is better known for flu research, is conducting two types of Ebola studies, said Rebecca Moritz, a campus biosafety manager.

One project uses genetic material from Ebola, and the other uses a strain of the virus that is missing a key protein, Moritz said. The strain can grow only in a particular cell line containing the protein and is not infectious in animals or humans, she said.

Kawaoka is testing potential drug therapies for the virus and "understanding how Ebola does what it does," she said. "There's really not a lot known about this virus."

He is doing the research in labs classified as biosafety level 2 and 3, which are found throughout campus and require precautions to prevent workers from becoming infected or releasing the virus from the lab, Moritz said. She wouldn't say where on campus the labs are located.

In 2006, the National Institutes of Health said some of Kawaoka's Ebola work needed to be done in BSL4, the highest biosafety level found anywhere, which the university doesn't have. Kawaoka was ordered to stop the research.

But in 2010, the NIH reversed its decision and said the work could be done in BSL2.