Social Virology at the Tri-Kingdom Interface in Birds and Mammals
Supervisors
Dr Connor Bamford, Queens University Belfast
Prof Muhammad Munir, Lancaster University
Prof Ilias Kyriazakis, Queens University Belfast
Summary
Numerous and diverse microbes, including viruses, bacteria and fungi, live on and around us where they can have a major impact on our lives, and the lives of livestock and wildlife. These microbes can ‘socially’ interact with each other and their shared hosts, spanning several taxonomic kingdoms. One timely example is that of influenza viruses that is typically spread by wild birds and can cause highly lethal outbreaks of disease in poultry like chickens. When investigating such infections, often only one virus is considered and links to co-habiting bacteria are ignored.
Potentially, by identifying protective and pathogenic links, these interactions hold the key to controlling viral diseases. Thus, in this project, we will systemically assess the interactions between viruses and bacteria, of importance to avian and mammal livestock. This will be achieved via completion of 3 major aims: 1) characterization of a one-health microbiota strain collection; 2) assessment of direct bacterial-viral interactions; 3) integration of avian and mammalian host cells in this process. This project will provide training in wet-lab molecular and cell biology, integrative microbiology/virology, and computational genomics, in a ‘One health’ context.