Sloan Lab

Sloan Lab

@richardsloanlab.bsky.social

Richard Sloan Lab. Viruses and Innate Immunity. Edinburgh University and ZJE Institute, China. https://www.ed.ac.uk/infection-medicine/our-staff/principal-investigators/dr-richard-sloan

2,855 Followers 3,939 Following 19 Posts Joined Oct 2023
1 year ago

Congratulations @nellymak.bsky.social! So proud. Glad your postdoc lab is treating you well.

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1 year ago
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πŸ’­Check our brand new Research Focus - featuring publications from across the Edinburgh Infectious Diseases network!

@pfvale.bsky.social @richardsloanlab.bsky.social @dbogaert.bsky.social @fionagreco.bsky.social

Full article here ➑️ edinburgh-infectious-diseases.ed.ac.uk/news-and-eve...

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1 year ago

Just a reminder to apply for this PhD project in our lab @edinuni-irr.bsky.social using a mix of CRISPR screening and computational approaches to find antiviral factors. Deadline Monday 13th January. Fully funded and international applicants accepted. Please share!
@uoe-eid.bsky.social

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1 year ago

My first first-author paper is out! If you are curious about how alternative splicing fine-tunes the antiviral specificity of IFITMs in horseshoe bats, make this the last paper you will read in 2024⬇️

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1 year ago
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Alternative splicing expands the antiviral IFITM repertoire in Chinese rufous horseshoe bats Author summary Zoonotic transmission occurs when viruses β€˜jump’ from animals into human. This may lead to viral outbreaks such as the COVID-19 pandemic, posing a significant threat to public health. B...

Our lab's latest paper published in PLoS Pathogens! Looking at functional diversity of antiviral IFITMs in horseshoe bats doi.org/10.1371/jour...
Led by PhD student @nellymak.bsky.social in collaboration with @batresearch.bsky.social
@uoe-eid.bsky.social @edinuni-irr.bsky.social #Immunosky #Virosky

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1 year ago
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Fully funded 4 Year PhD studentships in Biomedical Sciences Applications are invited from outstanding students wishing to pursue a 4 Year PhD studentship in Biomedical Sciences from September 2025.

Second fully funded PhD in our lab! @edinuni-irr.bsky.social Interested in how endogenous retroelements shape bat immune responses? Fully funded PhD with some teaching in China. Excellent supervisors include @batresearch.bsky.social

biomedical-sciences.ed.ac.uk/postgraduate...

#ViroSky #Immunosky

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1 year ago

Awesome opportunity to do a PhD in a building filled top to bottom with outstanding virologists, all in sunny Glasgow. What's not to love? Strong recommend...

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1 year ago

Give a follow to the amazing @uoe-eid.bsky.social community which brings together virologists, scientists, and social scientists talking about viruses!

#MedSky #IDSky #MedID #PublicHealth #AcademicSky #AcademicChatter

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1 year ago

Could you add me please?

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1 year ago

Thank you! Much appreciated

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1 year ago

Could you add me please?

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1 year ago
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Meta-analysis of genome wide functional screens to identify broad-spectrum antiviral and immuno-therapeutic targets Precision Medicine Project - Meta-analysis of genome wide functional screens to identify broad-spectrum antiviral and immuno-therapeutic targets

PhD opportunity in our lab at Edinburgh University! Analysing CRISPR screens for proviral and antiviral factors focusing on coronaviruses and influenza A virus. Using a mix of wet lab and computational approaches (full training provided).
#ViroSky #ImmunoSky

usher.ed.ac.uk/precision-me...

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2 years ago

New lab preprint! Understanding innate immunity in bats is important given their role in viral spillovers and with their unusual immune systems. Here we study antiviral IFITM genes in horseshoe bats and find alternative splicing is key to functional antiviral diversity: doi.org/10.1101/2023...

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2 years ago

So there is still plenty to find out still aboutthis complicated HIV block to infection (shame the funders don't agree!). Thanks to mBio for taking this on, Kathryn for leading the writing, Aine for the persistence in pursuing this question and Joe Gibbons for the recent experimental work. /end

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2 years ago

How is reverse transcription blocked? Why is RPRD2 highly expressed in macrophages and dendritic cells? What is the upstream entry component of Lv2 restriction? Also the relationship between RPRD2 and the HUSH and PAF1 complexes is totally undefined, but the physical links are there 7/n

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2 years ago

Meanwhile, over in Birmingham and Manchester
Pawel Grzechnik was working out key details in how RPRD2 is involved in regulating cellular transcription. How this relates to what is seen for HIV is still unclear (but tantalising). There are still a tonne of open questions...6/n

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2 years ago

The viral capsid and envelope determinants known for the unmapped Lv2 restriction phenotype were matched to RPRD2, suggesting it is behind a big part of the phenotype. It was then shown HIV-1 Vpr is at play (isn't it always?) degrading RPRD2 and aiding infection. 5/n

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2 years ago

Initial analysis of RPRD2 showed not only could it inhibit HIV-2, but also HIV-1 and some SIVs. The block to infection was shown to occur at viral reverse transcription, with RPRD2 binding reverse transcripts and more generally binding RNA probes. At about this point I get involved...4/n

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2 years ago

To identify the factors involved in Lv2
Aine and her lab had to brute force it, using whole genome siRNA screening of Lv2 susceptible virus. This pulled up candidates including members of the HUSH complex, the PAF1 complex and an RNApol II C-terminal binding protein - RPRD2 3/n

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2 years ago

The Lv2 restriction was initially defined as a block to HIV-2 infection in some cells. Mapping experiments revealed it to be an envelope and capsid driven phenomena, seemingly linked to the route of viral entry (including important contributions from Stuart Neil). 2/n

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2 years ago

Our review on the Lv2/RPRD2 restriction of HIV is finally published in mBio! Led by talented postdoc Kathryn Jackson-Jones who took on the task of summarising a couple of decades of molecular virology by co-author Aine McKnight doi.org/10.1128/mbio... 1/n

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2 years ago
This is the job description, which can also be found on Euraxess: https://euraxess.ec.europa.eu/jobs/120426 View of the Mediterranean see near Montpellier

We are looking for 2 postdocs (a molecular virologist and a bioinfomatician with wet lab experience) to work on our ERC-funded InVIRium project! We're based in Montpellier, France and we aim to better characterize respiratory virus replication in pertinent models of primary airway epithelia.

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2 years ago

Excellent PhD opportunity to study how species resist viral infection using bioinformatics, virology, and animal models at Edinburgh Uni. Led by Rob Young at the Usher Institute, virology with me, and animal models with Elly Gaunt at Roslin:
www.findaphd.com/phds/project...
#ViroSky #ImmunoSky

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