The CVR Presents Research Goes Viral

In this episode of Research Goes Viral, Bailey Atkinson sits down with Dr Ruth Harvey, Deputy Director of the Worldwide Influenza Centre at the Francis Crick Institute, to discuss the importance of global flu surveillance. They discuss how influenza surveillance saves lives, what happens behind the scenes when a novel or concerning flu strain is detected, the importance of the One Health approach...

In this episode of Research Goes Viral, Bailey Atkinson and Charlotte Lewis sit down with Professor Akiko Iwazaki, recipient of the 2025 Sir Michael Stoker Award, to explore the science behind Long COVID and how the pandemic reshaped research overnight. They discuss the leading theories behind Long COVID, including persistent virus, autoimmunity, and reactivation of dormant viruses, and what these...

A mini podcast exploring new research tracking COVID-19 immunity in Malawi. First author, Dr Mhairi McCormack, explains how infection, vaccination, and variant waves shaped protection in urban and rural communities and why children and people living with HIV may face higher risks. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-025-22599-7

In this episode, Dan Liu, a newly graduated PhD student from the MRC-UofG Centre for Virus Research, shares the story behind PLM-interact — a new AI-powered model published in Nature Communications . By teaching artificial intelligence to understand the “language” of proteins, her research helps predict how proteins interact, offering new insights into virus–host relationships and the molecular ma...

Flu viruses use secret cellular tunnels to escape your immune system! New research from Daniel Weir and colleagues uncovers influenza's most elusive escape route - tunnelling nanotubes that let viruses spread completely undetected. 🔗 KEY RESOURCES: 📄 Research Paper: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.ppat.1013191 🦠 More from Daniel Weir and the Hutchinson Lab: https://www.gla.ac.uk/research/az...

This episode explores the lived experiences of neurodivergent researchers in academia, from autism to ADHD. Through candid conversations with scientists at different career stages, we uncover both the challenges they face in traditional academic environments and the unique strengths they bring to scientific discovery. Our guests share practical strategies for supporting neurodiversity in research...

Listen to Dr Nir Drayman chat to Dr Mila Collados Rodriguez about his journey moving from Isreal to Chicago, to building his very own lab in California. Nir embraced the unexpected twists of life and found his passion for virology while working in systems biology labs. He speaks about the challenges of navigating career opportunities, spousal hiring schemes and the meticulous process of choosing t...

Spanish virologist Nerea Irigoyen provides an inside look at her career with PhD students from the Castello Lab, Natasha Palmalux and Rozeena Arif. Nerea details her pioneering work using ribosomal profiling to uncover the complexities of viral gene expression, as well as her experiences transitioning to an independent group leader role. Irigoyen also shares valuable guidance for early career rese...

Dr Angela Rasmussen travelled from the University of Saskatchewan to the CVR in September 2023, and sat down with Spyros Lytras and Kieran Lamb. Angela gives insight into dealing with toxic bosses, sustained research investments, empowering underrepresented groups of people, dealing with conflict and connecting with colleagues across disciplines through social media. 🔗 Links More about Angela Ras...

Prof Wendy Barclay OBE, winner of the 11th Annual Sir Michael Stoker Award, sat down with Stephen Devlin and Anna Sims on her visit the the CVR. Wendy gives insight into building a career in virology, navigating the challenges of science communication in the digital age, the importance of widening your network and asking for help. 🔗 Links More about Wendy Barclay, including contact information: h...

For #HPVAwarenessDay, Anna Kirk, a PhD Researcher in the Graham Lab, takes a deep dive into Human Papillomavirus in our recent Research Goes Viral podcast. Anna explains the viral life cycle of HPV, how disruption of this cycle can lead to cancer, and how we can protect ourselves. #OneLessWorry

Associate Professor Anice Lowen travelled all the way from Atlanta's Emory University to deliver the Richard M. Elliott Memorial Lecture at the recent Glasgow Virology Workshop. Anice completed her PhD at the CVR (then MRC Virology Unit) with Richard Elliott. We invited Anice along to chat with a couple of our PhD students, Stephen Devlin and Anna Sims, about her research in influenza A transm...

There is now strong evidence that the virus AAV2, alongside an underlying genetic predisposition, played a key role in cases of acute hepatitis in children, according to a new study published in Nature – the first detailed research investigation into the worldwide outbreak. In this podcast, host Stephen Devlin takes a deep dive into this new publication with lead author Dr Antonia Ho, Bioinformati...

New research from Professor Daniel Streicker and colleagues has revealed that vampire bat culls may actually exacerbate rabies transmission, rather than reducing it. In this podcast, Anna Kirk chats to Daniel Streicker and Megan Griffiths about their research around vampire bats and rabies virus. Megan's PhD project was focused on the development of a transmissible vaccine using a herpes virus to...

Listen to the 2022 Stoker Award Winner, Professor Christian Drosten talk about his coronavirus research, challenges of science communication and the song that a German punk band wrote about him! On Monday 9 January, we welcomed 2022 Sir Michael Stoker Award winner Professor Christian Drosten to the CVR. This annual award is awarded to a highly reputable scientist to honour their significant contri...

Three of our incredible researchers, Stephen Devlin, Anna Sims and Spyros Lytras, recently sat down to discuss some prominent LGBTQIA+ virologists and microbiologists from history and why it's important to celebrate them today. This is a special edition of our Research Goes Viral podcast to celebrate LGBT+ History Month 2023. Learn more here: https://lgbtplushistorymonth.co.uk/ --- 🔗 Links Follow...

Surveillance and treatment of Hepatitis C in a changing world - a Viral Insight with Emma Thomson by MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research

Have a listen to our special Viral Insight episode for #WorldHepatitisDay 2022! Meet Dr Joe Grove, a Senior Lecturer here at the CVR as he discusses his journey into science, the breakthroughs in hepatitis C virus (HCV) experimental systems which occurred during his career and the importance of involving people living with HCV in research.

Listen to our latest podcast episode for Contagious Thinking in which Sarah Iannucci discusses all things Medical Visualisation. Sarah Iannucci recently completed a Masters of Science in Medical Visualisation and Anatomy, a degree offered jointly by The University of Glasgow and the famous Glasgow School of Art. The aim of the programme is to dissect and examine human anatomy and reconstruct it in...

In this special edition podcast for world hepatitis day Anna Kirk interviews John McLauchlan, a Professor of Viral Hepatitis at the Centre for Virus Research. John is an expert in hepatitis C virus, a bloodborne virus which can often result in chronic infections. Globally there are an estimated 71 million of these chronic infections which can result in cirrhosis or liver cancer. Today, the develop...

In this episode of the review we discuss Dr Kieran Dee’s exciting discovery that coinfections of rhinovirus and SARS-CoV-2 result in reduced replication of SARS-CoV-2. We discuss the potential for the real world impact of this, how it feels to get your research into news outlets such as the BBC and the future directions for this study. You can find our previous content on at cvrblog.myportfolio.co...

It is almost one year since the first positive case of COVID-19 confirmed in Scotland, and in this episode we talked with Clinical Research Fellow James Shepherd about how COVID-19 was introduced in Scotland from mainland Europe (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41564-020-00838-z). This work was a national effort involving multiple NHS and academic partners and demonstrates how pathogen genomic se...

On the eve of the COVID-19 pandemic (Feb 2020), we welcomed a very special guest to Contagious Thinking, Associate Professor Dr Nuno Faria from the University of Oxford. In this episode, Nuno speaks with Vandana Ravindran and Elihu Aranday-Cortes, about his life in science and his interests in epidemiology and evolution of viruses circulating in human, vector and animal populations.

In this special episode for our Spanish speaking listeners, Mila and Elihu are talking with Professor Pablo Murcia about how viruses can infect different species, his scientific career and future work. Pablo -who is a DVM- is trying to understand the molecular and evolutionary mechanisms that underpin viral host switching and viral emergence.

In this episode, recorded in October 2019, we speak to Dr Jonathan Stoye - a Senior Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and Fellow of the Royal Society. In this episode we talk about Jonathan’s impressive research career path, from his first interest in the genetic interactions between retroviruses and their hosts. Jonathan also shares stories of how he made his way to his current role as...