Nucleosome Targeting by Human Cytomegalovirus

Speaker: dr Michael Nevels, University of St Andrews, UK

Talk:  Nucleosome Targeting by Human Cytomegalovirus

Time: 2.04.2027, 09:00

Venue: Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Abrahama 58, hall 042B

Dr Michael Nevels is a Reader at the University of St Andrews and an Associate Professor at the University of Regensburg. He is the founding Secretary of the World Society for Virology, has delivered over 50 invited talks worldwide, and has trained more than 20 postgraduate students and postdocs. He developed an interest in human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) during his postdoctoral training at Princeton University and has focused on this herpesvirus ever since. His research centres on innate immunity and epigenetic regulation in HCMV-infected cells. His work has identified the first HCMV interferon signalling antagonist and defined fundamental chromatin assembly mechanisms of the HCMV genome, including the first nucleosome maps. His group was also the first to describe the tethering of HCMV episomes to host chromosomes. These basic research findings inform ongoing vaccine and drug development projects aimed at improving the prevention and treatment of HCMV disease. Dr Nevels has published in leading journals and is currently funded by the Medical Research Council, Wellcome, and Kidney Research UK.