Dr Amin Asfor

Real name:

Postdoctoral Scientist

Molecular Biology, Molecular Virology, Vaccinology

Dr Amin Asfor is a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Picornavirus Molecular Biology group at The Pirbright Institute. Amin obtained his BVSc from Alexandria University, Egypt and PhD in Molecular Virology from the Royal Veterinary College, London University and Animal and Plant Health Agency (Weybridge), investigating the role of Viral glycoprotein E2 in the host range restriction of Pestiviruses. Amin joined The Pirbright Institute in 2009, since then he identified a novel antibody binding determinants on the capsid surface of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV).

Dr Asfor's research interest includes: evolution of viral immune-escape using next generation sequences, identifying novel antigenic sites, and identifying novel conserved epitopes as candidate for cross-serotypes vaccines and developing pan serotypes diagnostic assays. He has published some of the findings in a peer reviewed journals and presented several research papers in several international conferences. His research projects are linked with different research groups in the UK e.g. Oxford University, Imperial College, London, Glasgow University and World reference Laboratory for vesicular disease at The Pirbright Institute, UK.

Amin has experience in supporting and guiding PhD students towards completion of their degrees and supervising placement students.

News
Publications

Early animal studies by Pirbright and Oxford yield promising results for new potential COVID-19 vaccine

IBDV protein that dampens poultry immune response could inform vaccine development

Studies at Pirbright demonstrate two doses of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine boosts immune response in pigs

Pirbright develops universal foot-and-mouth disease virus test

Pirbright innovation recognised at the BBSRC Innovator of the Year Awards

Asfor A S, Nazki S, Reddy V R A P, Campbell E, Dulwich K L, Giotis E S, Skinner M A, Broadbent A J (2021)

Transcriptomic analysis of inbred chicken lines reveals infectious bursal disease severity is associated with greater bursal inflammation in vivo and more rapid induction of pro-inflammatory responses in primary bursal cells stimulated ex vivo

Viruses 13 (5) , 933

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.3390/v13050933

King D J, Freimanis G, Lasecka-Dykes L, Asfor A, Ribeca P, Waters R, King D P, Laing E (2020)

A systematic evaluation of high-throughput sequencing approaches to identify low-frequency variants in viral populations

Viruses 12 (10) , 1187

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.3390/v12101187

Tan T K, Rijal P, Rahikainen R, Keeble A H, Schimanski L, Hussain S, Harvey R, Hayes J W P, Edwards J C, McLean R K, Martini V, Pedrera M, Thakur N, Conceicao C, Dietrich I, Shelton H, Ludi A, Wilsden G, Browning C, Zagrajek A K, Bialy D, Bhat S, Stevenson-Leggett P, Hollinghurst P, Tully M, Moffat K, Chiu C, Waters R, Gray A, Azhar M, Mioulet V, Newman J, Asfor A S, Burman A, Crossley S, Hammond J A, Tchilian E, Charleston B, Bailey D, Tuthill T J, Graham S P, Duyvesteyn H M E, Malinauskas T, Huo J, Tree J A, Buttigieg K R, Owens R J, Carroll M W, Daniels R S, McCauley J W, Stuart D I, Huang K A, Howarth M, Townsend A R (2021)

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate using SpyCatcher multimerization of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain induces potent neutralising antibody responses

Nature Communications 12 , 542

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-020-20654-7

Graham S P, McLean R K, Spencer A J, Belij-Rammerstorfer S, Wright D, Ulaszewska M, Edwards J C, Hayes J W P, Martini V, Thakur N, Conceicao C, Dietrich I, Shelton H, Waters R, Ludi A, Wilsden G, Browning C, Bialy D, Bhat S, Stevenson-Leggett P, Hollinghurst P, Gilbride C, Pulido D, Moffat K, Sharpe H, Allen E, Mioulet V, Chiu C, Newman J, Asfor A S, Burman A, Crossley S, Huo J, Owens R J, Carroll M, Hammond J A, Tchilian E, Bailey D, Charleston B, Gilbert S C, Tuthill T J, Lambe T (2020)

Evaluation of the immunogenicity of prime-boost vaccination with the replication-deficient viral vectored COVID-19 vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19

npj Vaccines 5 (1) , 69

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41541-020-00221-3

Dulwich K L, Asfor A, Gray A, Giotis E S, Skinner M A, Broadbent A J (2020)

The stronger downregulation of in vitro and in vivo innate antiviral responses by a very virulent strain of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), compared to a classical strain, is mediated, in part, by the VP4 protein

Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology 10 , 315

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00315

Asfor A, Howe N, Grazioli S, Berryman S, Parekh K, Wilsden G, Ludi A, King D, Parida S, Brocchi E, Tuthill T (2020)

Detection of bovine antibodies against a conserved capsid epitope as the basis of a novel universal serological test for foot-and-mouth disease

Journal of Clinical Microbiology 58 (6)

Publisher’s version: https://doi.org/10.1128/JCM.01527-19

Groups

Vesicular Disease Reference Laboratory

Dr Amin Asfor

Early animal studies by Pirbright and Oxford yield promising results for new potential COVID-19 vaccine

IBDV protein that dampens poultry immune response could inform vaccine development

Studies at Pirbright demonstrate two doses of Oxford University’s COVID-19 vaccine boosts immune response in pigs

Pirbright develops universal foot-and-mouth disease virus test

Pirbright innovation recognised at the BBSRC Innovator of the Year Awards

Transcriptomic analysis of inbred chicken lines reveals infectious bursal disease severity is associated with greater bursal inflammation in vivo and more rapid induction of pro-inflammatory responses in primary bursal cells stimulated ex vivo

A systematic evaluation of high-throughput sequencing approaches to identify low-frequency variants in viral populations

A COVID-19 vaccine candidate using SpyCatcher multimerization of the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein receptor-binding domain induces potent neutralising antibody responses

Evaluation of the immunogenicity of prime-boost vaccination with the replication-deficient viral vectored COVID-19 vaccine candidate ChAdOx1 nCoV-19

The stronger downregulation of in vitro and in vivo innate antiviral responses by a very virulent strain of infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV), compared to a classical strain, is mediated, in part, by the VP4 protein

Detection of bovine antibodies against a conserved capsid epitope as the basis of a novel universal serological test for foot-and-mouth disease

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