Chris Illingworth

After four years at the University of Glasgow, I have just identified a perfect opportunity to use the word, 'outwith'.

Communicating science to the general public www.bakerinstitute.org/vaccines-cau...

Population diversity declines between inoculated and exposed guinea pigs. Viral titers in nasal lavage samples are indicated by the overall height of the bar. Red lines show LOD (50 PFU/mL). Colors within the bars represent unique barcodes, and the height of each color indicates barcode frequency within the sample. Plots for individual animals are paired with those of their cage mate. Representative pairs for direct contact (top half) and aerosol (bottom half) exposure are shown from three experimental replicates. Guinea pig ID numbers are shown in the upper right corner of each plot.

What causes viral transmission bottlenecks? This study uses barcoded virions to show that in the case of #influenza A #virus, early within-host replication dynamics (rather than a reduced inoculum population) drive loss of diversity during transmission @plosbiology.org 🧪 plos.io/4ngicDK

A link to our study on air cleaning is given here: tinyurl.com/ydutjafs. We published a small study on staff on COVID wards wearing FFP3 masks here: elifesciences.org/articles/71131. Staff-to-patient COVID transmission likely does happen, but not very often: elifesciences.org/articles/67308

This paper began life as Lauren Stewart’s MSc Bioinformatics project at the University of Glasgow. Builds on research on UDCA and ACE2 expression by Teresa Brevini and Fotios Sampaziotis in Cambridge, and ongoing collaboration with Stephanie Evans at UKHSA.

Modelling the potential use of pre-exposure prophylaxis to reduce nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission Author summary Preventing SARS-CoV-2 transmission is of particular importance in hospital environments. Individuals in hospital can be more vulnerable to infection. Dealing with outbreaks can consume ...

We looked into whether a commonly-used drug could reduce SARS-CoV-2 transmission on hospital wards. Estimated 17% reduction in transmission is of similar order to studies involving air cleaning. tinyurl.com/56h43ud7

We are hosting in Glasgow a conference for postgraduate virology researchers across the UK, September 8-9th 2025. Abstract deadline in one week. More Info available here: www.postgradvirologistsnetwork.co.uk/2025-meeting

📢 VACANCY | Computational Biologist/Bioinformatician 🦠

Join our brilliant team and contribute to the analysis of antiviral host-mechanisms and comparative virology datasets.

📆 Deadline: 25 August

Info: bit.ly/CVR-WorkWithUs Ref 178592
Apply: gla.ac.uk/explore/jobs/

‼️ Today is the last day to register for the Glasgow Virology Workshop!

📆 Friday 5th September 2025
📍 Hunter Halls,
@uofglasgow.bsky.social

More info and registration links: gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

a) MRC Units do some good science. Whether the output of some or all Units justifies the investment made feels like a matter for genuine debate.
b) Highlighting the age, race, and gender of one person in this debate feels ad hominem. Is there room for an evidence-based consideration of the matter?

The image shows a large group of people seated in an auditorium attending an event. Some individuals are standing at the front. On the right side, there is a banner or projection displaying the text "Glasgow Virology Workshop"

📢 EVENT | 27th Glasgow Virology Workshop

Join us for a day of interesting talks & discussions.

Speakers: Adam Bailey, Louis Lambrechts, Kirsty Roy, Judy Breuer, Sheila Graham, Juan Reguera & a selection of students.

📆 Fri 5th Sept 2025
🔗 Register: gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

We have a job going for a bioinformatician / computational biologist at the CVR in Glasgow. www.jobs.gla.ac.uk/job/computat...

True story: I once tried explaining this to a friend using a pack of cards. They chose a card at random. I removed 50 cards which were not the Ace of Spades. Now, do they want to swap or stick in order to get the Ace of Spades? Outcome: Their first choice was the Ace of Spades.

Burden of Respiratory Viruses in Children Less Than 2 Years Old in a Community-based Longitudinal US Birth Cohort Respiratory viral infections are a major cause of morbidity and hospitalization in young children. Nevertheless, the population burden of respiratory viral infections, especially asymptomatic cases, i...

With chicken pox there's a vaccine available, so some potential for parental choice. That's probably an outlier case though pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...

The image is a promotional poster for the "Glasgow Virology Workshop" scheduled for Friday, 5th September 2025 at Hunter Halls, University of Glasgow. The poster features the workshop's title and date prominently on the left side, with details about registration and abstract submission below. Registration deadline is Thursday, 31st July 2025, with general admission priced at £50 and student admission at £45. Abstract submissions are due by Friday, 30th May. The right side of the poster includes images of cells under a microscope and a large audience in an auditorium.

📢 BOOK NOW | #GlasgowVirologyWorkshop 2025

Join us for an informal and friendly workshop with time for interactive discussion and a wine reception in the evening.

External to UofG? Register here: glasgowvirologyworkshop2025_external.eventbrite.co.uk

More info: gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Call for abstracts open for the Glasgow Virology Workshop 2025. www.gla.ac.uk/research/az/...

Modeling the amplification of epidemic spread by individuals exposed to misinformation on social media - npj Complexity npj Complexity - Modeling the amplification of epidemic spread by individuals exposed to misinformation on social media

This new study modeled the potential costs of COVID19 vaccine misinformation on public health. They found that misinformation potentially could have caused an additional 47 million infections in the US at a cost of $143 billion. www.nature.com/articles/s44...

After three years of undergrad, I still felt a long way off being able to read my Director of Studies' research in pure math.

Diversity monitoring question from a publisher. I'm white European, but surely the answer HAS to include sub-Saharan Africa?

Thanks to our collaborators at Cambridge and UKHSA.  Kudos to first-author Lauren, who took on this project as part of her MSc Bioinformatics course in Glasgow.

Clinical implementation of either this or similar strategies is clearly a step beyond the scope of our work.  We don’t recommend the use of UDCA in the absence of full clinical supervision.

Different strategies for drug use could be considered.  Our strategy was more effective at higher levels of community infection, when more people with SARS-CoV-2 were admitted to the hospital.

We used simulated data describing SARS-CoV-2 cases in hospitals to assess a strategy of giving UDCA to patients following the detection of a case of SARS-CoV-2 on a ward.  Under default model parameters this produced a 16% reduction in SARS-CoV-2 transmission.

Ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA) is used to treat the liver condition primary biliary cholangitis.  The drug lowers expression of ACE2, the primary receptor for the SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein.  As such, individuals treated with UDCA have been found to be at lower risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Modelling the potential use of pre-exposure prophylaxis to reduce nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission The nosocomial transmission of respiratory pathogens is an ongoing healthcare challenge, with consequences for the health of vulnerable individuals. Outbreaks in hospitals can require the closure of b...

Could a commonly-prescribed drug, given under medical supervision, help to prevent SARS-CoV-2 transmission in hospitals?  We used mathematical modelling to carry out a preliminary assessment.  medrxiv.org/cgi/content/....  Thread follows.

A useful thread for postdoc applicants. In Glasgow it is done by cover letter but if you don't provide evidence of fulfilling an essential criterion, we can't employ you. You have a *much* better chance if in your cover letter you link your achievements explicitly to the job requirements.

Applications now open for the CVR PhD scheme in Glasgow. Wide range of opportunities in all aspects of research in viruses that infect people. Looking for creative people from all backgrounds (incl. maths/physics/compsci) with a desire to have fun doing top quality science. tinyurl.com/4vu5whu2

Efficacy of Air Cleaning Units for preventing SARS-CoV-2 and other hospital-acquired infections on medicine for older people wards: A quasi-experimental controlled before-and- after study Nosocomial infections are costly and airborne transmission is increasingly recognised as important for spread. Air Cleaning Units (ACUs) may reduce transmission but little research has focused on thei...

I've been involved in this study on nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission: tinyurl.com/paetb58d. Putting air filters on a hospital ward was associated with a 22% reduction in transmission. A larger study would be needed to confirm this result.

Research Assistant/Associate at University of Glasgow Discover an exciting academic career path as a Research Assistant/Associate at jobs.ac.uk. Don't miss out on this job opportunity - apply today!

New Research Associate/Assistant post in Glasgow, using computational and statistical approaches to study virus infection, evolution, and transmission. Funded until Mar 2028.

Not your average postdoc position: Get in touch for more info.

www.jobs.ac.uk/job/DJO681/r...

NB you heard it here first.

Treatment of SARS-CoV-2 infection in hamsters with mutagenic drugs led to a rapid increase in low-frequency genomic variants, of 7-10 additional mutations per genome. Signals of viral mutagenesis in humans could arise via transmission following a short course of treatment. tinyurl.com/mvjwxkst