Bringing Birmingham to You: Mapping the Virus part 2

Bringing Birmingham to You: Mapping the Virus part 2

Thursday 25 March

Online Event

13.00-14.15 GMT | 17.00-18.15 GST | 21.00-22.15 HKT

It's been almost a year since the global lockdown of 2020.  New variants of COVID-19 have been found globally, vaccines have been discovered and are being administered, and countries around the world are in various stages of easing restrictions.  Experts from the University of Birmingham have been at the forefront of testing, genomic sequencing, and vaccine studies. 

Join Professors Nick Loman, Alan McNally, and Alex Richter for a follow-up to the popular webinar held in November 2020. Alice Roberts, Professor of Public Engagement in Science at the University, will again chair the panel and welcomes you to pose your questions to the experts. Let us know what you would like the panel to discuss during the event by sending your questions via email in advance of the discussion.  Questions will also be welcome during the webinar.

No prior knowledge of microbiology or virology is necessary.

As there are limited spaces available for this webinar, register early to avoid disappointment.  Please email the team on the email address provided.

About the panellists:

Professor Alice Roberts is an anatomist, author and broadcaster.  Her research interests focus on evolutionary anatomy, osteoarchaeology and palaeopathology.  She has considerable experience in science communication: she has presented several landmark series on the BBC and written seven popular science books.  Alice was awarded the Royal Society's David Attenborough Award 2020 for outstanding contributions to public engagement ranging across medicine, anatomy, biology, evolution and archaeology, through lectures, television, books, and other media, as well as her advocacy through her role as Professor of Public Engagement at the University of Birmingham and as the President of the British Science Association.

Nick Loman works as Professor of Microbial Genomics and Bioinformatics in the Institute for Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham. His research explores the use of cutting-edge genomics and metagenomics approaches to the diagnosis, treatment and surveillance of infectious disease. Nick has so far used high-throughput sequencing to investigate outbreaks of important Gram-negative multi-drug resistant pathogens, and recently helped establish real-time genomic surveillance of Ebola in Guinea. His current work focuses on the development of novel sequencing and bioinformatics methods to aid the interpretation of genome and metagenome scale data generated in clinical and public health microbiology.

Alan McNally is a Professor in Microbial Genomics and is the Director of Institute of Microbiology and Infection at the University of Birmingham.  Alan works on the evolutionary genomics of pathogenesis and antimicrobial resistance in bacterial pathogens.   In April 2020, Alan was seconded to the Milton Keynes Lighthouse Lab as Infectious Disease lead at the Government’s first flagship COVID-19 testing facility.  Alan is currently heading up the new COVID-19 testing lab at the University.

Alex Richter (MBChB Medicine, 1996; MD Medicine, 2009) is a Professor and Honorary Consultant in Clinical Immunology.  She has been leading a team of experts from the University  to develop a SARS-CoV-2 antibody test focussed on improving detection in individuals with mild COVID-19 disease. In collaboration with a local Birmingham diagnostic company, The Binding Site, this was commercialised and is being used in a number of local and national seroprevalence and vaccine response studies. As Director of the Clinical Immunology Service she has supported the setting up of a research and community viral PCR testing laboratory at the University and has worked as a national scientific advisor to validate new viral testing technologies and their implementation for asymptomatic testing.