Speaker 1: Dr Craig Duffy (University of Liverpool) – The Application of Nanopore and Illumina sequencing in infection biology: Practical and technical considerations.

Craig Duffy is a population geneticist and bioinformatician within the Hiscox group, University of Liverpool. He has worked on the  the African trypanosomes and malaria, exploring the role of selection on population diversity and population dynamics. His current focus is the MPOX epidemic in the DRC, working with partners from the region to understand transcriptomic responses to infection and identify genes associated with disease severity. Drawing on a mixed background of molecular biology and informatics he provides technical support and guidance to the Hiscox group, with a focus on the generation and analysis of sequencing data.

Speaker 2: Dr Hazel Stewart (University of Cambridge) – Tetherin antagonism by SARS-CoV-2 ORF3a and spike protein enhances virus release.

Hazel is a senior postdoctoral research associate with Prof Andrew Firth at the University of Cambridge, where she studies the gene expression mechanisms and RNA structures of positive sense RNA viruses. Her previous projects focused upon selective genome packaging in hepatitis C virus(University of Leeds) and host-pathogen co-evolution of gammaretroviruses(University of Glasgow). Recently, her projects have been increasingly directed towards elucidating at the molecular and cellular level the roles played by viral accessory proteins in host cell death pathways, and how viruses subvert these processes to their own benefit.