Speaker: John Doorbar - Professor of Viral Pathogenesis, Department of Pathology, University of Cambridge
Date: Thursday 13 March 2025
Time: 9:30am
Venue: Theo Chalmers Lecture Theatre, Clinical School
Bio:
Human papilloma viruses (HPVs) are estimated to cause around 5% of all human cancers as well as serious benign disease in some individuals. There are no antivirals against HPV and treatment options for precursor lesions, end-stage cancers and papillomas typically involve surgical removal, destructive agents, or in some instances local immune modulation. Disease recurrence is a significant problem. Although vaccination represents a partial solution in some settings, it has only marginal value for those already infected. In such cases, a better understanding of the disease process and how this results from HPV infection is a crucial requirement.
Research in the HPV laboratory seeks to understand how HPV infection leads to disease. Over the past few years we have built up a coherent picture of the papillomavirus life cycle in differentiating epithelium. We have also developed a repertoire of unique antibodies and a variety of techniques to follow HPV replication in raft cultures in vitro, in animal models and in patient tissue samples that will allow the detailed analysis of HPV growth, the host systems with which they interact and the clinical conditions that ensue.