NEWS Within the framework of the UCMR Distinguished Guests Seminars Series, professor Emma Thomson gives a lecture on AAV2 and immune dysregulation in children with unexplained hepatitis.
Professor Emma Thomson.
ImageUniversity of GlasgowTime: Wednesday 29 May at 15:00-16:00
Venue: Bergasalen, Norrlands univeristetssjukhus
Host: Niklas Arnberg, Department of Clinical Microbiology
Registration: You do not need to register
Emma Thomson, Clinical professor of infectious diseases MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR) and Professor of Emerging Viruses London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM)
An outbreak of acute hepatitis of unknown aetiology in children was reported in Scotland in April 2022 and was later identified in 35 other countries. We carried out a detailed case–control investigation and found an association between the adeno-associated virus 2 (AAV2) infection, co-infection with the human adenovirus (HAdV) and host genetics (HLA DRB1*04:01) in disease susceptibility.
Using next-generation sequencing, PCR with reverse transcription, serology and in situ hybridization, we detected recent infection with AAV2 in plasma and liver samples in the majority of affected patients. More recently we have been investigating the breadth and specificity of the AAV-2 directed T-cell mediated response in affected children.
Emma Thomson trained in medicine at Glasgow University and then specialised in infectious diseases and general (internal) medicine in London at St Mary’s Hospital, University College London, the Hospital for Tropical Diseases and Hammersmith and Ealing hospitals. She carried out her PhD on virus immunology at Imperial College London and Oxford University with a clinical Wellcome PhD fellowship, worked as a postdoc in Oxford for a year and then set up her own laboratory at the CVR in 2011 with a Wellcome intermediate fellowship. She became associate director of the CVR in 2023. She also works part-time at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and has a strong research collaboration with the Uganda Virus Research Institute. Her laboratory uses next generation sequencing to identify emerging viruses and to explore how these evolve under selection by the host immune response. She has worked on SARS-CoV-2, AAV2, HCV, HIV, Ebola virus, and CCHFV. She leads the Preparedness platform at the CVR and provides advice to the UK Health Security Agency and WHO on emerging viruses.