Virology

The Virology group at the AHT is based within the Centre for Preventive Medicine and works very closely with the Immunology and Epidemiology teams. Our current activities centre around equine herpesviruses (EHV-1 and 4), influenza viruses (equine, canine and swine) and African horse sickness virus (AHS). Research interests include antigenic variation and pathogenicity of influenza viruses, markers for paralytic herpesviruses and their use in development of differential diagnostic tests and development of improved vaccines for AHS. Together with the Immunology team, we are also interested in the host immune response to equine viruses, particularly increasing our knowledge of the importance of cell mediated immunity.

The Virology group consists of 15 staff, including postdoctoral researchers, technicians and full and part time PhD students. We also usually have a variety of visiting workers or students here at any one time, who may be here for anything from a few days to learn specific techniques, or up to a period of years as part of long term collaborative projects. We have active collaborations with the University of Cambridge, Imperial, University of Nottingham and Royal Veterinary College, we are also working closely with the Sanger Institute and other organizations involved in influenza virus research to help develop the influenza virus sequencing pipeline.