Wellcome Sir Henry Dale Fellow
Division of Virology
My lab works on viral RNA polymerases, which are enzymes that replication and transcribe viral genomes. Currently, we focus on the influenza virus RNA polymerase and we use biochemical and single-molecule techniques to study how it works and how it contributes to the virulence of pandemic and highly pathogenic avian influenza viruses.
Department of Pathology
Division of Virology
Lab block, level 5, box 237
Addenbrooke's Hospital
Hills Road
Cambridge, CB2 2QQ
Websites:
Research themes
Research Interests
Emerging RNA viruses diseases have a severe impact on our economy (approximately $90 billion in the USA per year), but they also pose an unpredictable threat to our health. For instance, influenza A virus outbreaks in 1918, 1957, 1968 and 2009 have caused millions of deaths. Unfortunately, we know still relatively little about how pathogens like the influenza A virus cause lethal disease and how they amplify themselves. However, we do know that both are strongly linked to the activity of the viral enzyme that copies the viral genome. Clearly, we need to make an effort to study this enzyme in more detail. We study how viral RNA polymerases work, how they contribute to RNA virus pathogenicity and how viral RNA is detected by the innate immune response.
Group Members:
Miss Elizaveta Elshina
Miss Hollie French
Key Publications
-
te Velthuis. Flu transcription captured in action. Nature Struc Mol Biol (2019)
Goldhill et al. The mechanism of resistance to favipiravir in influenza. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA (2018) -
te Velthuis et al. Mini viral RNAs act as innate immune agonists during influenza virus infection. Nature Microbiol (2018)
-
te Velthuis & Fodor. Influenza virus RNA polymerase: insights into the mechanisms of viral RNA synthesis. Nature Reviews Microbiol (2016)
-
te Velthuis et al. The role of the priming loop in influenza A virus RNA synthesis. Nature Microbiol (2016)