Biography
NIHR Clinical Lecturer in Virology
Mathematics and Molecular Virology
I am a clinical academic (practising as a specialty registrar in infectious diseases and medical virology) whose research interests lie at the interface between mathematics and molecular virology. I work to develop and apply novel signal processing algorithms to viral genetic data with a view to discovery of previously unrecognised regions of structural and/or functional importance in viruses. This allows us to understand better the life cycle and pathogenicity of these agents and so focus on how we can disrupt the life cycle and avoid, attenuate or cure disease. During the COVID-19 pandemic I have focussed on properties of SARS-CoV-2 tests and the interaction between such tests and the dynamics of the pandemic. Prior to then, my focus has been on flaviviruses (including, amongst others, dengue, Zika, yellow fever and tick-borne encephalitis viruses); I also have some ongoing work into HIV.
Publications
- Diagnostic tool or screening programme? Asymptomatic testing for SARS-CoV-2 needs clear goals and protocols. Jordan P. Skittrall, Mary D. Fortune, Hamid Jalal, Hongyi Zhang, David A. Enoch, Nicholas M. Brown, Anne Swift. Lancet Reg Health – Eur, 2020, 1, 100002
- Specificity and positive predictive value of SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing in a low-prevalence setting. Jordan P. Skittrall, Michael Wilson, Anna A. Smielewska, Surendra Parmar, Mary D. Fortune, Dominic Sparkes, Martin D. Curran, Hongyi Zhang, Hamid Jalal. Clin Microbiol Infect, 2020
- A scale-free analysis of the HIV-1 genome demonstrates multiple conserved regions of structural and functional importance. Jordan P. Skittrall, Carin K. Ingemarsdotter, Julia R. Gog, Andrew M.L. Lever. PLoS Comput Biol, 2019 15(9):e1007345
- A new method for detecting signal regions in ordered sequences of real numbers, and application to viral genomic data. Julia R. Gog, Andrew M.L. Lever, Jordan P. Skittrall. PLoS ONE, 2018 13(4):e0195763
