Investigating potential therapeutic options to limit viral infection

Bronchiolitis is an acute respiratory condition of infancy, often caused by Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV). In the UK, it’s the 2nd commonest cause of paediatric medical hospitalisation after asthma. No specific cures are available and the mainstays of treatment remain supportive. There is a real clinical need to find therapeutic interventions capable of reducing the morbidity associated with the acute episode and its long-term sequelae.

In Liverpool, we have a long published track record of investigating RSV disease in children. Much of the morbidity associated with RSV bronchiolitis is due to the host immune response to infection and we were one of the first groups to carefully document this in the lungs of babies with severe disease. More recently we have set up a novel model of RSV infection based on airway cells ‘brushed’ from the lungs of children. In this PhD project, this model will be used to find out how RSV causes disease in infants and whether novel treatments for bronchiolitis work.

This PhD studentship will answer the following questions:

1) Are ‘resistance genes’ in the airways of infants important in preventing severe RSV disease?
You will find out whether host ‘resistance genes’ affect the virus’s ability to replicate. This work is in collaboration with a group from Atlanta, Georgia, who have recently identified genes that confer resistance to influenza infection in the airway.

2) Can novel treatments be used to limit RSV infection in the airway?

In collaboration with industrial partners and other groups within the University of Liverpool, you will examine whether novel drugs and molecules limit the damaging effect of RSV on airway epithelium.