Identifying host pathogen interactions using systems approaches

The Grey Lab uses cutting-edge tools to examine the interactions between the host and pathogens such as cytomegalovirus, influenza virus and African Trypanosomiasis.

Pathogens interact with hosts in complex and intricate ways. Understanding how pathogens interact with the host can provide valuable information on how the pathogen replicates and teach us how the host responds to infections, ultimately leading to the development of better vaccines, drugs and treatment regimes. Systematic high throughput screens are powerful approaches that allow us to examine the role of host genes during infection. 

Our group uses cutting-edge high throughput approaches including small interfering RNA (siRNA) and CRISPR/Cas9 screens, arrayed interferon stimulated gene (ISG) expression libraries and microRNA target identification to discover and characterise novel host-pathogen interactions. We work on human clinical diseases including human cytomegalovirus, diseases important to livestock, and pathogens that span both human and livestock, such as influenza virus and African Trypanosomiasis.