Functional proteomic analysis of innate immune subversion by human cytomegalovirus

Dr Weekes is an infectious diseases physician whose research focuses on the evasion of innate immunity by intracellular pathogens. His lab aims to identify and characterise novel antiviral restriction factors. He has developed new functional proteomic approaches that enable systematic quantitative analysis of temporal changes in host and viral proteins throughout the course of a productive infection. Applied to human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), an important pathogen in neonates and immunosuppressed people, these technologies revealed how HCMV orchestrates the expression of more than 8,000 cellular proteins to manipulate intrinsic, innate and adaptive immune defences in addition to host signalling and metabolism. His lab is currently using proteomic and biochemical approaches to characterise the function and mechanism of action of the most important novel restriction factors identified, in addition to developing new screens to examine restriction of HCMV and other intracellular pathogens in greater depth.