Prof Richard Elliott joins University
Published: 1 March 2013
Prof Richard Elliott has joined the MRC Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow as the new Bill Jarrett Chair of Infectious Disease
Prof Richard Elliott has joined the MRC Centre for Virus Research at the University of Glasgow as the new Bill Jarrett Chair of Infectious Disease.
This is an exciting return to Glasgow for Prof Elliott who first joined the former MRC Virology Unit in 1981. Prior to this, Richard obtained his PhD from the University of Oxford and spent two years undertaking postdoctoral training with Prof Peter Palese at Mount Sinai Medical Center in New York.
In 1986, Prof Elliott was awarded an MRC Senior Non-clinical Fellowship which he held until 2005 when he was appointed Professor of Molecular Virology at the University of Glasgow. In 1998, Prof Elliott was appointed Joint Head of Division of Virology at the university, a position he held until 2005 when he assumed the position of Professor of Virology in the Centre for Biomolecular Sciences in St Andrews University's School of Biology.
In 2012, Prof Elliott’s standing as one of the world’s leading arbovirologists was recognised with a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator Award. These highly prestigious, and competitive, awards are designed to fund visionary science which is likely to have a major impact on our understanding of key aspects of biology and pathology. This award will support Prof Elliott’s laboratory over the next seven years to continue their work on molecular analyses of arbovirus-host interactions. Professor Elliott’s research programme focuses on Bunyaviruses, a large family of viruses including both human and animal pathogens, almost exclusively transmitted by insect vectors (arthropod borne viruses “arboviruses”). Prof Elliott’s overall vision is to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the molecular biology of bunyavirus replication that will ultimately lead to new methods of control, prevention or treatment for bunyavirus disease. Like other groups of arthropod-transmitted viruses, bunyaviruses are responsible for severe morbidity and mortality throughout the world. They cause diseases ranging from febrile illness and encephalitis to fatal haemorrhagic fevers and approximately 30% of all infectious diseases that emerged globally between 1990 and 2000 were caused by arboviruses.
We are delighted to welcome this outstanding virologist back to Glasgow and to the CVR where his research programme will significantly enhance many of the core activities of the Centre.
First published: 1 March 2013
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