Dr Joshua Sealy

Joshua Sealy is a PhD student at The Pirbright Institute and is funded by the Zoonoses and Emerging Livestock Systems Associated Studentship (ZELS-AS). His research will focus on the molecular epidemiology of H9N2 avian influenza viruses that are endemically prevalent within poultry in Pakistan. The major concern regarding H9N2 viruses is their potential to donate gene segments in genetic reassortment events to co-circulating highly pathogenic influenza viruses. He aims to characterise H9N2 virus diversity in poultry productions systems to identify markers of virulence and to determine the ecological niche of the viruses in Pakistan. 

Joshua started his studentship in 2015 under the supervision of Dr Munir Iqbal and is enrolled at the Royal Veterinary College in London. Before starting at the Institute he completed his MRes degree at Imperial College where he worked in three different research groups on a variety of model organisms including A. Thaliana, D. melanogaster and S. cerevisiae. Joshua completed his BSc at the University of Surrey where he worked on the herpes simplex virus.