Linking viral immune evasion with cell proliferation - Epstein-Barr virus encoded EBNA1

Speaker: Prof. Robin Fahraeus (Inserm, Universit Paris)

Talk: Linking viral immune evasion with cell proliferation - Epstein-Barr virus encoded EBNA1

Time: 7 October 2016

Venue: Intercollegiate Faculty of Biotechnology, Abrahama 58

Category: Faculty seminar

Prof. Robin Fahraeus is Director of Research at the French Inserm. His team is located at the Institute Genetique Moleculair in Paris. He is member of the French Cancer Institute, the Mazaryk Cancer Institute in Brno, Czech Republic and Umea University, Sweden. He did his M.D. and PhD at the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, Sweden in 1993. This was followed by a post doc training with Sir David Lane in Dundee, UK. He was Head of R&D at the Cyclacel Biotech Ltd before setting up his own academic research group with support from the Cancer Research UK. In 2004 he moved to France to become Research Director and work on physiological implications of mRNA translation in the p53 and the MHC class I pathways.  The team has explored viral mechanisms of immune evasion and how this is linked to alternative sources of peptides for the MHC class I pathway.  Works on the activation of p53 have shown how signaling pathways use the p53 mRNA to differentiate p53 activity following different cellular stresses. Dr Fahraeus team is currently world leading group in the studies on the source of MHC class I presented peptides. Their work contributed to understanding fundamental aspects of the processes allowing the immune system to detect self from non-self and for viral evasion of the immune system. The aim of their present research is to identify and evaluate intracellular targets for novel anti-cancer therapies. Dr Fahraeus is the author of over 80 publications in leading scientific journals, including Science, Nature, Nature Communications, PNAS, Oncogene and others.