Understanding the negative sense RNA intermediate in picornavirus replication

Picornaviruses are responsible for a number of serious diseases, including polio and foot-and–mouth disease. There is an urgent need to develop new strategies to address the continuing issue of picornavirus infection. Foot-and–mouth disease virus (FMDV) is an extremely important animal pathogen - the 2001 UK outbreak cost several billion pounds. The project aims to study the features of the viral genome responsible for both rapid replication and persistence, using a replicon system. The long-term aim of the work is to utilise our knowledge of the molecular details of replication in the development of new strategies of disease diagnosis and control.
This interdisciplinary project includes other UK academic institutions as well as the BBSRC Pirbright Institute and will involve close collaboration and research visits.