Dr Chris Netherton

Chris Netherton leads the African Swine Fever Vaccinology group and has been investigating different aspects of the life cycle of African swine fever virus (ASFV) for over twenty-five years. His studies on ASFV have encompassed analysis of individual viral proteins right through to herd transmission experiments. Chris’ earlier work on ASFV focussed on intracellular virus-host interactions with a strong emphasis on cell-biology.

Chris investigated the effect of ASFV on the cell secretory pathway as a whole, specifically looking into a gene family of secretory proteins which have coding that enable the virus to stay within the cell organelles (endoplasmic reticulum retention motifs). Later experiments analysed the relationship between virus replication sites and cellular structures called aggresomes. Chris then went on to show that a protein (interferon regulated MxA protein) was recruited to ASFV replication sites and could inhibit virus replication.  This was the first time that this had been observed for a large double-stranded DNA virus.

The principal goal of the research carried out within the ASF Vaccinology group is to support the development of effective vaccines against this devastating disease of domestic pigs. We have identified a pool of eight ASFV genes that prevent severe disease in domestic pigs and aim to improve the protective efficacy of this combination, by characterising immune correlates of protection, identifying additional protective antigens and exploring different vaccine platforms. We are also sequencing Pirbright's reference collection of ASFV isolates to improve our understanding of the genetic diversity of this complex virus and help guide the development of cross-protective vaccines.