Strengthening the lung’s natural defences could protect against respiratory viruses and improve preparedness for future pandemics.
Respiratory virus research
Researchers at the University of Birmingham have been awarded £2.5million of funding from the Advanced Research and Invention Agency (ARIA) to develop a new approach to protecting the lungs against respiratory viral infections.
The project, called AEGIS - Anti-viral Engineered Opsonin-based Innate Immune Shielding - will be led by Dr Aaron Scott, Associate Professor in Respiratory Science at the University of Birmingham, and delivered through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre: Birmingham. AEGIS is part of ARIA’s new Sustained Viral Resilience programme, which sees a total of £57million dedicated to supporting ambitious new approaches to protect against respiratory viruses before infection becomes established.
We’re taking on one of the most ambitious challenges in infectious disease - how to build protection before the next respiratory viral threat emerges…
Respiratory viruses remain a major cause of illness worldwide. They are responsible for millions of infections each year, worsen chronic lung diseases, and place major pressure on healthcare services. The COVID-19 pandemic also demonstrated how vulnerable societies can be to new respiratory pathogens and highlighted the need for better ways to prepare for future outbreaks.
Most current vaccines and antiviral treatments are designed to target specific viruses or viral strains. While highly effective, these approaches can be challenged by viral evolution and may need to be updated as new variants emerge. AEGIS will take a different approach by seeking to strengthen natural protective mechanisms already present in the lung.
The goal is not simply to kill viruses directly, but to enhance the body’s natural ability to prevent infection from becoming established. AEGIS hopes to achieve this by focussing on proteins called opsonins, which are naturally produced by the body and help the immune system recognise and remove harmful agents. Researchers will engineer these proteins so they are better able to bind respiratory viruses, cause virus particles to clump together, reduce the number of viruses reaching and infecting lung cells, and help immune cells in the lung remove viruses more effectively.
To achieve this ambition AEGIS brings together expertise from across the University of Birmingham, with colleagues collaborating from respiratory medicine, immunology, virology, protein engineering, structural biology, advanced computer modelling and human lung models.
I am excited to be part of ARIA’s Sustained Viral Resilience programme, which is taking on one of the most ambitious challenges in infectious disease - how to build protection before the next respiratory viral threat emerges. In AEGIS, we will re-design protective proteins normally found in the lungs, so they are better able to capture respiratory viruses and support their clearance by the body’s natural defences. Our aim is to strengthen the lung’s first line of defence against a broad range of viruses before infection becomes established. If successful, this strategy could help protect vulnerable people from existing respiratory viruses while also improving our preparedness for future pandemics.
Professor David Thickett, Professor of Respiratory Medicine and Clinical Lead at the University of Birmingham, said:
“Respiratory infections remain a major cause of hospital admission, severe illness and death, particularly in people with existing lung disease and other vulnerable groups. AEGIS is exciting because it seeks to strengthen the lung’s own natural defence systems before infection takes hold. Beyond its potential to protect individuals at highest risk, this approach could contribute to future pandemic preparedness by providing broader protection against emerging respiratory pathogens. In the longer term, similar strategies may also have applications beyond viral infections, where improving the body’s ability to recognise and clear pathogens could offer new therapeutic opportunities.”
We're excited to support the AEGIS team, which is pioneering a new approach toward broadly protecting the lung against respiratory viruses. Many existing approaches focus on engineering immune proteins that only block specific viruses, but the AEGIS team is instead engineering natural lung proteins that can broadly recognise and tag for destruction many different respiratory viruses. We're confident in the team's motivation and collective expertise in virology, structural biology, respiratory immunology, and clinical medicine for this ambitious project.
AEGIS is one of 11 funded R&D Creator teams in ARIA’s £57M Sustained Viral Resilience programme. Led by Programme Director Brian Wang, the programme aims to develop safe and effective protection against respiratory viruses that can last for more than three months following a single course of treatment and work across multiple viral families.
In the future, engineered opsonin-based approaches could provide a new layer of protection for vulnerable people, strengthen preparedness for future pandemics, and support the development of broader approaches to respiratory infection prevention.
This study will be delivered through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) Biomedical Research Centre: Birmingham’s Infection and Acute Care research theme, which focuses on improving outcomes for patients by testing better ways to identify infections, developing new medicines which harness the body’s own immune system to fight infections, and designing better care pathways so people get the care they need, faster.
About AEGIS
AEGIS stands for Anti-viral Engineered Opsonin-based Innate Immune Shielding. The project aims to develop engineered high-affinity opsonins as a new approach to broad respiratory virus protection.
Opsonins are naturally produced protective proteins that help the immune system recognise and remove harmful microbes. AEGIS will test whether these proteins can be re-designed to bind respiratory viruses more strongly, promote viral aggregation, reduce infection of airway cells, and enhance immune clearance in the lung.
About ARIA
ARIA is an R&D funding agency created to unlock technological breakthroughs that benefit everyone. Created by an Act of Parliament, and sponsored by the Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology, we fund teams of scientists and engineers to pursue research at the edge of what is scientifically and technologically possible.
About ARIA’s Sustained Viral Resilience programme
ARIA’s Sustained Viral Resilience programme supports new approaches to safe and effective protection against respiratory viruses. The programme aims to develop prophylactic strategies that can last for more than three months following a single course of treatment and work across multiple viral families.
AEGIS team
University of Birmingham
The University of Birmingham is ranked amongst the world’s top 100 institutions. Its work brings people from across the world to Birmingham, including researchers, teachers and more than 40,000 students from over 150 countries.
England’s first civic university, the University of Birmingham is proud to be rooted in of one of the most dynamic and diverse cities in the country. A member of the Russell Group and a founding member of the Universitas 21 global network of research universities, the University of Birmingham has been changing the way the world works for more than a century.
About the National Institute for Health and Care Research
The mission of the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR) is to improve the health and wealth of the nation through research. We do this by:
The NIHR Biomedical Research Centre: Birmingham (BRC) is part of the NIHR and hosted by University Hospitals Birmingham NHS Foundation Trust (UHBFT) in partnership with the University of Birmingham (UoB). The BRC’s research programme focuses on inflammation and the diagnosis, prevention and treatment of its associated long-term illnesses.
Associate Professor in Respiratory Science
Dr Aaron Scott is an Associate Professor in Respiratory Science, within the Department of Inflammation and Ageing.
