Dr David Matthews is based in the Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine at the University of Bristol’s School of Medical Sciences. He is an expert in zoonotic agents and developed key techniques to apply state of the art ‘Omics technologies to study viruses in non-human species, notably bat lines infected with the dangerous zoonotic Hendra virus. He led the development of computational pipelines to enable large scale sequencing of Ebola virus genomes in the 2013-2015 Ebola virus epidemic in West Africa. Most recently, he was BBSRC funded to work on Middle East Respiratory Syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), resulting in key research papers that informed discussions in the WHO Covid-19 steering group because of the importance to pre-clinical vaccine trials. Dr Matthews is one of the world’s leading academics applying high throughput approaches to study infectious disease. His primary focus is on the integration of quantitative transcriptomic and proteomic data, and on building links with clinical colleagues to gain a deeper understanding of how viral infections evolve in an individual host during infection. Education PhD, University of St Andrews
An immunocompromised individual with the longest known PCR confirmed case of SARS-CoV-2 infection, lasting more than 290 days, has been successfully treated with two investigational monoclonal antibodies (laboratory engineered antibodies). Clinicians and researchers from the University of Bristol and North Bristol NHS Trust (NBT) worked closely to assess and treat the infection and want to highlight the urgent need for improved access to treatments for such people with persistent SARS-CoV-2 infection.
24-Jun-2021 06:05:32 AM EDT
In a major breakthrough an international team of scientists, led by the University of Bristol, has potentially identified what makes SARS-CoV-2 highly infectious and able to spread rapidly in human cells. The findings, published in Science today [20 October] describe how the virus’s ability to infect human cells can be reduced by inhibitors that block a newly discovered interaction between virus and host, demonstrating a potential anti-viral treatment.
20-Oct-2020 10:15:39 AM EDT