Staff Profile


Professional Qualifications
 

I have acted as a grant reviewer for the following funding organisations:

MRC

BBSRC

Welcome Trust

US Army Research Office

Science Foundation Ireland

Health Research Board, Ireland

Enterprise Ireland

ANR BiothechS, France

Pôle des Technologies Santé, Montpéllier, France

 

I have acted as a peer reviewer for the following academic journals:

American Journal of Respiratory Cell and Molecular Biology

Archives in Virology

Clinical and Experimental Immunology

Current Medicinal Chemistry

Disease Markers

Drug Profiles

European Journal of Immunology

Expert Opinion in Pharmacotherapy

Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses

Journal of Clinical Virology

Journal of General Virology

Journal of Immunology

Journal of Medical Microbiology

Microbes and Infections

Nature Medicine

PLoS ONE

PLoS Pathogens

Vaccine

 

I organised the following conferences/symposia:

"Lost in Translation".  A meeting to discuss the state-of-the-art in relation to respiratory disease research in Northern Ireland.  Ballygally, Co. Antirm.  February 24-25, 2006.  Co-organised with Dr. Joe Kidney. 

"Vaccines - past, present and future."  A meeting organised by the Ulster Immunology group as part of the 50th anniversary celebrations of the British Society for Immunology.  Queen's University Belfast.  November 29, 2007.  (Sponsorship raised = £1,000)

"Inflammation - from cell to clinic."  A conference organised by the Ulster Immunology Group in association with the Brisith Society for Immunology, Centre for Infection & Immunity, QUB, University of Ulster, Northern Ireland R&D Office and the Infectious Diseases Recognised Research Group.  Queen's University Belfast, June 8-9, 2009.  (Sponsorship raised = £14,811)

"Dangerous Liasons - pathogens and the immune system."  A conference organised by the Ulster Immunology Group in association with the Brisith Society for Immunology and the Irish Society for Immunology.  Queen's University Belfast, September 2-3, 2010.  (Sponsorship raised = £18,150)

Inaugural Young Immunologists Forum.  A forum that I initiated and am organising through the British Society for Immunology with a view to providing young immunologists (Junior Faculty) in the UK and Ireland a major networking opportunity. Great Missenden Abbey, Buckinghamshire.  April 13-15, 2012.

 

I served as External examiner for PhD or MD degrees at the following institutions:

 

1.  Universite de Bourgogne,  France.  (1998).  I also served as "rapporteur" for this thesis.

2.  University of London, Imperial College, London.  (2006).

3.  University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. (2007).

4.  University of Sheffield. (2008).

5.  University of Liverpool.  (2009).

6.  University of Liverpool.  (2010).





External Appointments (structured)
DescriptionFromTo
DescriptionFromTo
Associate Editor, Influenza and Other Respiratory Viruses, Wiley Blackwell2009present
Editorial Board Member, Advances in Preventive Medicine, Hindawi Publishing Corporation2010present




Membership Of Other Societies / Professional Activities

I was an invited speaker or session chair for the following national/international conferences/symposia/workshops:

1.  2nd annual meeting on J2000.  Saint-Julien-en-Genevois,  France.  1994. Title:  Protective efficacy in rodents of prokaryotically-expressed recombinant fusion proteins containing native or mutant RSV-A G protein fragments.

2.  2nd European Laboratories Without Walls (ELWW) meeting on "Mucosal Immunity",  St. Julien en Genevois, France.  1995.  Title: Protective efficacy of BBG2Na,  a recombinant fusion protein containing a respiratory syctial virus G protein fragment,  in rodent models.

3.  3rd European Laboratories Without Walls (ELWW) meeting on "Basic Immunology for Vaccinology",  Titisee,  Germany.  1996.  Title: A prokaryotically-expressed RSV-A G protein subunit vaccine - preclinical evaluation.

4.  Third ELWW Biotechnology meeting,  on "Vaccine delivery systems",  Madrid,  Spain. 1996.  Title: Protective efficacy of BBG2Na,  a prokaryotically-expressed fusion protein containing an RSV-G protein fragment.

5.  "Prevention of RSV infections",  organized by Erasmus Medical Centre,  Rotterdam,  Holland (Hosts, Dr. Henriëtte A. Moll,  Prof. dr. Ronald de Groot,  Prof. dr. Albert D.M.E. Osterhaus),  in Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen,  Rotterdam.  January 26,  1999. Title :  "Overview of RSV vaccines".

6.  Seminaire de virology clinique: "Les virus respiratoires". Organised by Prof. François Freymuth, Service de Virologie du CHU de Caen in Hotel Mercure de Caen.  Octobre 5-6, 2000. Title: "Les vaccines anti VRS et la physiopathologie de l'infection."

7.  Vaccinologie 2001. Institut Pasteur, Paris, France. Title: Développement d'un vaccin anti-RSV.

8.  RSV Workshop on the application of modern/non invasive techniques to understanding the pathogenesis of RSV infection in humans and to the development and evaluation of an effective RSV vaccine.  Organized by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and the National Vaccine Program Office.  June 24-25, 2002, Bethesda, MD, USA.

9.  V International symposium on respiratory viral infections.  December 5-8, 2002, Casa de Campo, La Romana, Dominican Republic.  Title : Recombinant hybrid RSV vaccine.

10.  Session Chair.  RSV Symposium 2005, Keble College, Oxford.  September 15-18, 2005.

11.  European Society for Clinical Virology, Lyon, France.  May 24-25, 2007.  Special conference on respiratory viruses.  Invited speaker.  Title Respiratory syncytial virus vaccines - two steps back for one leap forward.

12.  2eme Journée Jean-Gérard Guillet de vaccinologie Clinique, Hôpital Cochin, Paris. April 20, 2009.  Title: L'énigme des vaccins anti-VRS - stratégies pour une réussite.

13.  Session Chair (Infection & Evasion Strategies).  Irish Society for Immunology Annual meeting 2009. Institute of Molecular Medicine, St. James Hospital, Dublin, Ireland.

 

 

I was an invited seminer speaker at the following institutions:

1.  Department of Genetics and Microbiology (Host, Dr. J. Curran),  Centre Medical Universitaire,  Geneva, Switzerland.  February 20, 1998.  Title:  BBG2Na,  a recombinant subunit vaccine candidate against respiratory syncytial virus.

2.  Institute of Virology (Host, Prof. A.D.M.E. Osterhaus),  Erasmus University,  Rotterdam,  Holland,  June 27, 1999.  Title : "Pre-clinical research on a RSV vaccine,  BBG2Na".

3.  Children's Research Centre and Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research (Host, Prof. D.J. Reen), University College Dublin, Our Lady's Hospital For Sick Children, Dublin, Ireland.  January 16,  2001.  Title: "BBG2Na,  a promising novel recombinant subunit vaccine against Respiratory Syncytial virus."

4.  Dépt. d'Immunologie (Host, Dr. C. Leclerc), Institut Pasteur, Paris,  France.  February 9, 2001.  Title: Preclinical and clinical evaluation of BBG2Na,  a promising Respiratory Syncytial Virus vaccine candidate.

5.  Department of Virology and Molecular Biology (Host, Dr. A. Portner), St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Memphis, TN, USA.  June 21, 2001.

6.  Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, Ireland.  November 6, 2008.  Title: RSV - massacre of the innocents.

7.  School of Infection & Immunity Seminar, University of Liverpool. June 23, 2009.  Title:  Respiratory syncytial virus ex-vivo: novel models of infection.

Since commencing at QUB, my research was presented at the following national/international conferences/symposia:

1.   13th International Conference on Negative Strand Viruses, June 17-22, 2006.  Salamanca, Spain (2 abstracts).

2.  Society for General Microbiology Spring meeting, March 26-29, 2007. Manchester, England. (1 abstract).

3.  European Society for Clinical Virology, May 24-25, 2007. Lyon, France (invitated speaker).

4.  6th International RSV Symposium, Oct. 25-28, 2007.  Marco Island, FL, USA. (2 abstracts).

5.  Ulster Immunology Group/British Society for Immunology 50th Anniversary Symposium.  Oct. 29, 2007.  Belfast, Northern Ireland. (1 abstract) (conference organiser).

6.  Society for General Microbiology Spring meeting, March 31-April 3, 2008. Edinburgh, Scotland. (1 abstract).

7.  Irish Society for Immunology/Ulster Immunology Group Joint meeting, Sept. 15-16, 2008. Dublin, Ireland. (1 abstract).

8.  XIV International Congress of Virology, Aug. 10-15, 2008. Istanbul, Turkey (3 abstracts).

9.  Society for General Microbiology Spring meeting, March 30-April 2, 2009. Harrowgate, England. (1 abstract). 

10.  Ulster Immunology Group symposium, June 1-2, 2009.  Belfast, Northern Ireland. (5 abstracts - 1 awarded best poster) (conference organiser; Session Chair).

11.  Irish Society for Immunology annual meeting, Sept. 10-11, 2009. Dublin, Ireland (1 abstract; Session Chair; Poster Judge).

12.  Society for General Microbiology Spring meeting, March 29-April 1, 2010. Edinburgh, Scotland. (1 abstract).

13.  Ulster Immunology Group/Irish Society for Immunology Joint Meeting, Sept. 1-2, 2010.  Belfast, Northern Ireland. (4 abstracts) (conference organiser; Session Chair).

14.  EMBO Workshop - Viruses and Innate Immunity.  May 5-7, 2010. Dublin, Ireland. (1 abstract; co-best poster prize);

15.  14th International Conference on Negative Strand Viruses, June 20-25, 2010. Bruges, Belgium (3 abstracts).

16.  7th International RSV Symposium, Dec. 2-5, 2010. Rotterdam, The Netherlands.  (6 abstracts - 2 received special mention).

17.  Society for General Microbiology Irish Brance Meeting, April 19-20, 2011. Belfast, Northern Ireland. (2 abstracts).

18.  XV International Congress of Virology, Sept. 11-16, 2011. Sapporo, Japan (2 abstracts).