Abstract

This Cambridge Immunology Network Seminar will take place on Thursday 20 November 2025, starting at 4:30pm, in the Ground Floor Lecture Theatre, Jeffrey Cheah Biomedical Centre (JCBC)

Speaker: Prof Andreas Pichlmair, German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Munich, Germany

Title: “Virus‐host interactomics identify pathogen restriction factors and highlight the importance of non-canonical regulatory processes for antiviral immunity”

Abstract: Viral infections belong to the major causes of worldwide morbidity and mortality. Disease progression and outcome depend on pathogen-specific molecular interactions, perturbations and reactions of the immune system.

Multi-omics-based characterisation of virus-host interactions allows unprecedented insights into viral perturbations and associated immune responses. Loss-of-function analyses and intersections with genetic data from patients with increased vulnerability to viral infections facilitate the identification of host factors relevant to virus propagation. I will showcase this on the basis of varicella zoster virus–host interactions, which highlight viral engagement of E3 ligase complexes to modulate the innate immune response and patient mutations in proteins involved in cytoskeletal reorganisation for viral spread. I will also discuss recent findings on pox- and influenza viruses, which indicate that specific cellular processes, particularly housekeeping functions, are relevant for virus propagation and are mostly regulated in a non-canonical manner at the post-translational level.

Knowledge of virus-host interactions not only enables a better understanding of viral propagation and disease progression but also facilitates the identification of potential intervention strategies, which could inform future therapeutic approaches.

Host: Prof Michael Weeks, CIMR , Cambridge

Refreshments will be available following the seminar.