Wendy Barclay: Understanding how respiratory viruses cause pandemics

Understanding how respiratory viruses cause pandemics

Respiratory virus pandemics bring high morbidity and mortality and significant social disruption. To make scientifically informed policies in the next pandemic we need to learn more about how animal viruses emerge to acquire human transmissibility, and how the new virus spreads amongst us. In this seminar Professor Barclay will describe findings spanning from the identification of key host factors that restrict Influenza virus from crossing the species barrier from birds to humans, to studies involving human volunteers deliberately infected with SARS CoV2. The key conclusions will be that understanding the requirements for and modes of transmission will help us to predict and possibly prevent future outbreaks transforming into full blown pandemics.