Professor Polly Roy MSc PhD FMedSci
- Room 363b
- LSHTM
- Keppel Street
- London
- WC1E 7HT
- T: +44 (0)20 7927 2324
- F: +44 (0)20 7927 2839
Professor Polly Roy’s salient contribution has been the first complete molecular understanding of a distinct group of viruses, orbiviruses, of serious health and economic impact. This understanding, gained through a combination of virology, molecular and structural studies, has been instrumental in paving the way to improved diagnostics, vaccines and therapy. Roy used several groundbreaking techniques and multi-disciplinary approaches to provide a detailed understanding of Bluetongue virus, a major orbivirus pathogen and model for human rotavirus. Her studies have examined each aspect of the virus, from individual virus proteins to assembly of the complete virus particle and its engagement, at various levels, with the host cell. Her contribution to virology, in particular to virus structure and assembly, has been recognised by her peers worldwide. Indeed BTV, a complex double-stranded RNA virus, is now one of the most well understood viruses and Roy’s name is synonymous with it.
Affiliation
Teaching
At LSHTM, Professor
Roy is Chair of the Virology exam board. She also co-organises the M.Sc Study
Units in 'Medical Microbiology' and `Molecular Virology' course, lectures in
these courses and invites appropriate lecturers from other universities and
institutes to teach them. She has supervised M.Sc research project students,
encouraged these students and helped them to pursue further education. She is a
member of the school Senior Management Team and a member of the Court of
Governors at LSHTM. She is also a co-ordinator of several EU projects, and is
currently carries out research with support from the EU, BBSRC and NIH.
Other International
courses:
Virus and Immunity, Ecole
Normale Supérieure Univ. of Lyon, France; Molecular Cell Biology, Philipps-Universität
Univ. of Marburg, Germany; Nanotechnology, Univ. of Sassari, Italy; Viral
Vaccines, University of
Teramo, Italy; Molecular
Virology, India; Virus Diagnostics, India; Molecular Virology, China; Medical
Microbiology, Algeria; Microbiology, BHM Southern College, USA.
Laboratory Research
Trainees:
Present and past
post-doctoral research associates (UK and USA): Total 86
Present and past
Ph.D. students: Total 37
Undergraduate
research students: Total 24
Research
My latest research
has continued to centre on basic understanding of virus infection using a
multi-disciplinary approach. Current work is based on a molecular dissection of
an RNA virus, Bluetongue virus, as a model system for a number of similar
viruses that are pathogenic to man and animals. Our studies to date have
contributed in understanding of each stage of viral life cycles including virus
entry, disassembly, viral encoded enzymatic functions necessary to generate
genomic RNA, assembly mechanism of newly synthesised viral components,
host-virus interaction and the mechanism of virus egress.
The most recent
ground breaking research development has been the recovery of infectious BTV
wholly from synthetic RNA and the establishment of a helper virus-independent
reverse genetics system for BTV. The ability to recover specific mutations in
the genome of BTV for the first time not only provides a novel tool for the
molecular dissection of BTV and related orbiviruses, but also the opportunity
to develop specifically attenuated vaccines to these viruses.
The data that we have
generated through our research has allowed us a number of publications in top
journals including in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the
United States of America (PNAS), Nature, Journal of Biological Chemistry and
Federation of European Biochemical Societies letters and Journals of Virology.
Current applied
research includes
(1). Use of
non-replicating particulate structures for vaccine and immunogen delivery
systems. We have begun preparing virus-like particles as vaccines for a number
of viruses, such as SARS, Rift Valley Fever virus, Rotavirus and HIV and
published some of these results in the peer reviewed journals.
(2). Improvement of
the baculovirus protein expression system for synthesis of multiprotein viral
and cellular complexes.
(3). Development of a
disabled single cycle virus vaccine for Bluetongue virus using a reverse
genetics system.
Research areas
- Vaccines
- Viruses
Disciplines
- Biochemistry
- Cell biology
- Molecular biology
Disease and Health Conditions
- Bluetongue virus
- HIV/AIDS
- Infectious disease
- Influenza
Other interests
- 3D Structure
- AHSV
-
Selected publications
-
Bluetongue virus coat protein VP2 contains sialic acid-binding domains, and VP5 resembles enveloped virus fusion proteins.
Zhang, X.; Boyce, M.; Bhattacharya, B.; Zhang, X.; Schein, S.; Roy, P.; Zhou, Z.H.;
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A, 2010; 107(14):6292-7
-
Prospects for improved bluetongue vaccines.
Roy, P.; Boyce, M.; Noad, R.;
Nat Rev Microbiol, 2009; 7(2):120-8
-
A viral non-structural protein regulates Bluetongue Virus trafficking and release.
Celma, C.C.; Roy, P.;
J Virol, 2009; 83(13):6806-16
-
Bluetongue virus VP6 acts early in the replication cycle and can form the basis of chimaeric virus formation.
Matsuo, E.; Roy, P.;
J Virol, 2009; 83(17):8842-8
-
Multigene expression of protein complexes by iterative modification of genomic Bacmid DNA
Noad, R.J.; Stewart, M.; Boyce, M.; Celma, C.C.; Willison, K.R.; Roy, P.
BMC Mol Biol, 2009; 10:87
-
Development of Reverse Genetics Systems for Bluetongue Virus: Recovery of Infectious Virus from Synthetic RNA Transcripts.
Boyce, M.; Celma, C.; Roy, P.;
J Virol, 2008; 82(17):8339-48
-
Bluetongue virus entry into the cells.
Forzan, M.; Marsh, M.; Roy, P.;
J Virol, 2007; 81(9):4819-27
-
Bluetongue virus VP4 is an RNA-capping assembly line.
Sutton, G.; Grimes, J.M.; Stuart, D.I.; Roy, P.;
Nat Struct Mol Biol, 2007; 14(5):449-51
- → View all Professor Polly Roy's publications
