Out today in @natecoevo.nature.com!
📝 www.nature.com/articles/s41...
We compare the mutational tolerance of enteroviruses A & B across their full proteomes, mapping distinct host interaction strategies 🦠 and identifying mutation-resistant regions that could inform antiviral development 💊
It is almost five years since I first applied AlphaFold to a handful of viral proteins.
Today, hundreds of thousands of predictions and many discoveries later, we are delighted to announce the integration of our Viro3D dataset into the @ebi.embl.org and Google DeepMind AlphaFold Database.
Image of a herpesvirus structure
I am excited to share our latest preprint - An evolutionarily divergent herpesvirus with a giant tail. Featuring symmetry breaking and genome annotation from structure using ModelAngelo. doi.org/10.64898/202...
Are you fascinated by viruses? Would you like to design your own original research project in the UK's largest virology centre? Why not come and do a PhD @cvrinfo.bsky.social - application deadline 6th Jan 2026 (1/1): www.findaphd.com/phds/program...
Join @uofglasgow.bsky.social for a funded 3.5 year PhD programme:
www.gla.ac.uk/colleges/mvl...
Also up for grabs is a project on antiviral PROTACs, supervised by us and the France lab (School of Chemistry) should ubiquitin and viruses appeal! Please get in touch with any questions.
Following our recent publications on next-generation poliovirus vaccines, we were asked by @uk.theconversation.com to provide a short explainer on why new vaccines are needed to ensure the eradication of polio globally - theconversation.com/to-eradicate...
7/7 Finally to thank everyone who worked so hard to get this paper published from @researchleeds.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) @NIBSC_MHRA and @ukcpi.bsky.social and if anyone has any questions then please let us know!
6/7 These results highlighted that our PV VLPs have the potential to be produced using currently available infrastructure making them a viable next-generation vaccine candidate for a polio-free world #Endpolio #vaccineswork
5/7 Then for the first time, we showed that in the presence of adjuvant, a trivalent immunisation of our VLPs were as immunogenic in the vaccine batch release assay as the current IPV vaccine showing the potenital for dose-sparing #endpolio #vaccines
4/7 Despite this similarity, this new PV2 VLP displayed increased increased immunogenicity compared to its predecessor, and in the presence of adjuvant was as immunogenic as the current IPV vaccine
3/7 We also produced a different PV2 mutant, which significantly increased VLP yields and improved particle thermostability. The team @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) then determined the structure of these mutants by cryoEM and found them to be highly similar
2/7 This paper follows on from our previous work, highlighting how immunogenic poliovirus virus-like particles (PV VLPs) made in yeast can be made at scale using fermentation with increased yields compared to flask-based expression
Much like London buses, you wait for ages, then 2 publications come along in quick succession! www.nature.com/articles/s41...
#vaccineswork #endpolio 1/7
Great few days in Liverpool for @microbiologysociety.org conference, can't wait to catch up with everyone again next year! #Microbio25
Here is a press release from @universityofleeds.bsky.social highlighting our recent publication describing next-generation VLP vaccines for polio #vaccines #Endpolio www.leeds.ac.uk/main-index/n...
Huge congratulations to co-first authors Kaniz Fatema and Joe Snowden the Stonehouse/Rowlands Lab @researchleeds.bsky.social on their publication describing a novel VLP vaccine platform. #vaccineswork
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
8/8 Finally, I just wanted to thank all members of the consortium for their hard work in getting this over the line at @researchleeds.bsky.social @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) @NIBSC_MHRA @johninnescentre.bsky.social and if anyone has any questions or wants to know more, then please let us know!
7/ These results highlighted that these VLPs have the potential to be used as a next-generation poliovirus vaccine post-eradication to avoid the problems posed by using live virus to produce our current vaccines. #Vaccineswork #Endpolio
6/ So we took inspiration from other VLP vaccines and used an adjuvant, which worked beautifully! With VLPs for all three poliovirus serotypes being more or as immunogenic as IPV in the rat model!
5/ Finally, we wanted to test these VLPs using the vaccine batch release assay. Interestingly, in contrast to the mouse model, our initial tests showed that the VLPs were not as immunogenic as IPV in the rat model . . .
4/ We then needed to determine if these VLPs were immunogenic. The team at NIBSC-MHRA Vaccine Division assessed how well these VLPs induced neutralising antibodies in comparison to the current vaccine (IPV), using a mouse model, highlighting that all the VLPs tested were as immunogenic as IPV
3/ The team @ox.ac.uk (STRUBI) then analysed the VLPs produced from each expression system by cryo-EM to ensure that these particles have the correct conformation and maintain the known immune epitopes present on infectious virions
2/ Naturally occurring empty capsids undergo a conformational change meaning that they no longer produce a long-lasting immune response. Therefore, our consortium have identified a number of mutations which maintains the D Ag conformation which induces long-lasting immunity
It's finally out! Our @who.int funded consortium paper describing different expression systems for the production of stabilised virus-like particles (VLPs) as next-generation vaccines for poliovirus #vaccineswork #Endpolio #viruses 1/
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
