Mr Samuel Richardson

Samuel obtained his MSc in Microbiology and Infection from the University of Birmingham in 2017 and went on to work in Public Health England’s biosafety group, where he was involved in research for the European Space Agency. Moving to the National Institute for Biological Standards and Control in 2019, he helped establish WHO International Standards relating to emerging viral diseases, including Lassa Fever, MERS and COVID-19.

Samuel joined The Pirbright Institute in 2021 as part of the newly-established Containment Level 3 (CL3) team, set up to increase the Institute’s capacity for high containment work. He researches several high containment viruses, particularly Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza virus (HPAIV), and is currently investigating the propensity of this virus for cross-species transmission into humans.