ERC Starting Grant · 2025
Rethinking the landscape of host defences against emerging viruses
All recent viral pandemics originated following human adaptation of zoonotic viruses. Our front-line antiviral defences are a major barrier to these viruses. Specifically, our cells encode antiviral proteins -that can be species-specific-, and directly inhibit viral entry, replication, and spread, thus influencing the outcome of infection. Current dogma states that antiviral proteins induced by interferon signalling, named interferon stimulated genes (ISGs), are the most significant front-line of defence. However, as ISGs are induced upon recognition of an already replicating virus, I hypothesize that an array of proteins that are constitutively expressed act to contain the initial wave of…
From the public funding record at EU CORDIS. Describes the funded project, not the reviews below.