General research description:
Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous herpesvirus that infects 60-90% of individuals. Following primary infection, HCMV establishes a latent infection under the control of a healthy immune system. Reactivation from viral latency to productive infection causes serious disease in immunocompromised individuals, such as transplant recipients and AIDS patients. Congenital CMV affects 1/100 pregnancies, and is the leading viral cause of birth defects.
Our aim is to understand how human cytomegalovirus and other intracellular pathogens evade innate immunity. We combine cutting-edge tandem mass tag-based multiplexed proteomics with detailed molecular studies to focus on novel cellular targets.
Collaborations:
At University of Cambridge
1. Professor Geoff Smith, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK: Proteomic analysis of vaccinia virus infection
2. Professor Jim Kaufman, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge, UK: What determines the expression of individual class I MHC alleles?
3. Dr. Colin Crump, Department of Virology, University of Cambridge, UK: How do BK and Human Simplex Viruses modulate the cellular environment over time to evade immunity?
4. Dr. Mark Wills, Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, UK: Identification of novel secreted antiviral factors released by leukocytes responding to HCMV infection
National and International
1. Dr. Richard Stanton, School of Medicine, Cardiff University, UK: How does human cytomegalovirus modulate cell surface and intracellular proteins to evade innate and adaptive immunity?
2. Professor Manoj Duraisingh, Harvard School of Public Health, USA and Professor Tandakha Dieye, Cheikh Anta Diop University, Senegal: Identification of novel receptors and therapeutic targets for malaria using quantitative multiplexed proteomics
3. Professor Matthew Freeman, Dunn School of Pathology, Oxford University, UK: Modulation of the cell surface proteome by rhomboid proteases
4. Professor Paul Digard, Roslin Institute, University of Edinburgh, UK: Identification and quantitation of novel Influenza proteins.
5. Dr. Benjamin Gewurz, Harvard Medical School, USA: How does Epstein-Barr virus evade immunity and generate malignant transformation? Can novel therapeutic targets of EBV-related cancers be identified by multiplexed proteomics?
6. Professor Andrew Davison, Glasgow University, UK: How do HCMV long non-coding RNAs modulate cellular functions?
